Fire and Ice
by Jess.91
Summary: She was fire; he was ice. She was Gryffindor; he was Slytherin. She was a Potter; he was a Malfoy. It would never work. And yet...
1. Chapter 1

Well, I realised that while I'd done several Jigsaw Pieces on this pairing, that mostly fit into the little next gen world I've gradually created, I didn't have a whole story. So along comes this. It isn't exactly a story, I suppose, as it'll just show key moments in their relationship. I've wrote four chapters of this, so I figured I should post it and see if anyone was interested in reading before I put more time and effort in it.

So, the name is because I couldn't think of anything else. This chapter's sort of a prologue, as the next one will be set a year later. For anyone who doesn't know, Lorcan and Lysander Scamander are Luna's sons, and twins, though I don't know if the twin thing is cannon. I've only ever seen them written that way, though, and it works for me. Lydia, Ally and Mitch Longbottom are my own creations, and Neville's kids.

Fire and Ice

_October 26__th__, 2021_

The room wasn't very full. The Room of Requirement had been routinely morphing into a large, comfortable room for several years now, providing brightly colour sofas and beanbag chairs that the occupants sank into (and sometimes got stuck in) as well as a large, circular table surrounded by chairs, a couple of feet away from wide bookshelf, which always contained, conveniently, the very book needed. Other things were scattered around, too, from useless but interesting objects which were rarely used (and some of them, in truth, seemed to have no use, other than to sit there and look pretty) to objects that were often needed.

This room was Rose Weasley's bright idea; when she, Albus, and Ally Longbottom had started Hogwarts, they'd been sometimes permitted to hang around with James and Mitch, who were a year above them, and Fred and Louis, who were a year above _them_, and their friends. While none of them would ever have believed it, hanging around with their cousins, and a few trusted friends, was entertaining, and helped avoid the painstaking process of deciding if someone was talking to you because they thought you seemed nice or interesting or funny, or if they were talking to you because you happened to have Harry Potter as your uncle, father, or Godfather.

Sometime after Albus and Scorpius Malfoy had bonded over the fact that the people around them expected each to be like their respective fathers, and the fact that the sometimes shy Albus was being showered with attention, while Scorpius was being constantly bullied, Rose had the bright idea of using the Room of Requirement as a kind of den – because Scorpius wasn't allowed in the Gryffindor common room, because older students disliked all the noise they made in the common room anyway (being related to Harry Potter and the Weasleys only got you so far, and for only so long), because teachers were uneasy with them gathering in the corridors, and because the weather was often too cold for them to gather outside. And because Fred flatly refused to spend time in the library.

So the Room of Requirement became their own, private, perfect den, just before Christmas in Rose's first year. This meant that she, and her tag-alongs, were granted place in the group – the group which would later be somewhat admired and liked, but also hated due to its selectivity – unless you were a blood/marriage/honorary member of the Weasley family your chances of getting in were reletivly low – despite James and Mitch's dislike of spending time with their respective brother and sister.

Several years had passed since then, however, and Fred and Lou Weasley had left Hogwarts, while James and Mitch were beginning their last. The loss of two of their founding members, plus the few friends they'd brought into the group, had effected the amount of space taken up in the room. This had been further compounded by the lack of any new members in the last few years – the room's youngest occupants, Lydia, Lorcan and Lysander, were now beginning their third year.

James and Mitch were lounging in one corner of the room, sharing some joke or plot, leaning against or sunken into bean-bag chairs, accompanied by Wood, whose first name was never spoken (few people even remember what it actually was) and a muggle-born boy named Max, both of who were in James and Mitch's year, and had been accepted into the group early on.

Lily, Lydia, Hugo and the Scamander twins were occupying the sitting area in the opposite corner, deep in conversation. Despite the fact that Lydia and the Scamander twins were in the year below Lily and Hugo, and all three were Ravenclaws, their friendship had survived; unsurprisingly, probably, as it had existed since the birth of the younger ones.

Rose, Albus, Ally and Scorpius were sat at the opposite side to James and his group. Though sometimes others joined them, these were the regulars, the core members of the group.

It was raining outside, as displayed by the large window couple of feet away from Lily and the others' seating area, directly opposite the door. Accompanied by a wide, comfortable window seat, it was one of the room's best features, even if the heavy rain currently obscured the view.

Scorpius Malfoy, for one, wasn't looking out of the window anyway. He was watching Lily, who was talking, her eyes bright with laughter. He knew she was only fourteen, knew she was only just starting her fourth year, knew she was Al's sister.

But she was definitely not Al's _kid_ sister anymore. Though still somewhat short, as he'd always known her to be, she looked somehow older now. And, sat next to the pixie-framed Lydia, she didn't look so small anyway. Her hair had grown over the summer, now to her waist. Her hair was only a shade or so darker than Rose's, and yet, while Rose's hair had always just been Rose's hair, a part of Rose, his close friend but in no way anything more, he found himself mesmerised by Lily's. And then there were her eyes. Bright blue, which he knew were from her Weasley side. Some of Molly and Arthur Weasleys' kids had inherited Molly's brown eyes; the others Arthur's blue. The same colours were scattered among the grandkids, though he knew Rose's eyes were her mother's brown, rather than her grandmother's, and Al had his father's eyes.

But Lily, it seemed, had got her maternal grandfather's blue eyes. Hers were big – and when he'd first met her, when he was twelve and she was Al's little ten year old sister, they'd seemed slightly too big for her face, in the way children's eyes sometimes are, but now they fit in perfectly – and her light skin was dusted with faint gold freckles across her nose and cheekbones.

He'd always got on well with her, liked her, been amused by her, and admired the sarcastic way she dealt with her brothers, as well as her fierce loyalty to her family and friends. Lily Potter had always been someone he'd liked, and they'd had countless conversations over the years.

And now – now he found himself watching her, thinking about her, more often that was strictly normal for a guy to think about his friend's sister. Especially when that friend's sister was his other friend's cousin, and his _other_ friend's little sister's best friend. Lily was tied to him in several ways, and not one of them should have him watching her so curiously.

"Hey! Hey, Malfoy, what the hell do you think you're looking at?" The call came from across the room; snapping his head round so quickly pain shot down his neck, Scorpius found himself watching the greatly annoyed James Potter striding towards him. His first thought was "Uh-oh." James was a year older and several inches taller than he. And when James stopped in front of him, Scorpius remembered that he was still an inch or so shorter than most of the guys in his class.

Suddenly, his average height seemed like a very big problem, though he couldn't quite work out why.

Albus stood instantly. "What's wrong?"

James glared, first at Scorpius, then his brother. "You're little friend here was staring at our Lily, Al."

"Staring at _Lily_?" Al repeated, sounding almost confused.

"Yes, Al." James snapped. "Staring at Lily. In _that way. _The way Wood stares at Annie McCormack now she's...developed."

Wood's protest was ignored.

"Don't be ridiculous." Al said quickly, but shot Scorpius a look.

"I'm not. And he had no right looking at her like that – she's only fourteen!"

"I wasn't!" Scorpius protested, quickly enough for it to advertise his guilt to the room. He didn't look at anyone other than James or Al, but he was aware that looks and murmurs were shooting around the room. For a small group, they murmured loudly.

He chanced a look at Lily, with the vague, empty hope that the whole incident was escaping her attention. No such luck; she was watching, her mouth slightly open.

"Stop _looking_ at her!" James cried, and moved forward. Scorpius braced himself for the blow, already knowing that he wouldn't blame James for it, even if he wound up with a black eye or a split lip or even a broken nose.

"James, for God's sake calm down." Al snapped, grabbing his brother's shoulder and pulling him back. "You're embarrassing yourself." In a lower tone, he added, "You're embarrassing Lily."

"I don't care."

"You're not going to hit him, you idiot." Albus said firmly. When James turned a blazing look on him, Al forced his voice to keep calm. "Stop it. You look like mum."

This had shock breaking through the anger, and then insult. "I do not."

"Yes, you do. It's kinda creepy. Go sit back down. I'll sort it, OK?"

"Al -"

"I'll sort it." Al said flatly. James deliberated for a second, then nodded.

"Fine. He's your mate. Fine." Then he turned back to Scorpius. "You stay away from her. She's just a kid." With that, he walked back across the room. Albus waited until James was sat back down before turning to Scorpius.

"I think we need to talk."

"Al, I..."

"Outside." Al said, his voice carefully low, his face carefully blank. When he walked towards the door, Scorpius saw no other choice but to follow him.

As the door closed behind them, and the noise level crept back up, Lydia turned to Lily, smirking. "Did I understand that right? Scorpius was checking you out?" Lorcan, Lysander, and Hugo all looked up.

Lily took a moment to organise her thoughts. "Of course not." She said finally. "You know what James is like. He was probably just looking out of the window."

"But if he was innocent, why'd he look so guilty?" Lydia challenged. It took Lily a moment, but she found a plausible answer.

"James looked like he was going to hit him. I think he probably was. And Scorpius has had all that trouble, hasn't he, with the bullying and stuff? That's all it is, like a leftover fear or flashbacks or something."

But when she looked away from Lydia, and at the door, her thoughts were still confused.

-------

"Well?" Al asked. There was an edge to his voice that Scorpius had never heard before. When Scorpius said nothing, Albus made a strange noise, somewhere between a growl and frustrated scream. "So James was right, then?" He demanded. "You were staring at Lily? At my _little sister_?"

"No!" Scorpius lied instantly. He'd never been a particularly good liar, though, and Albus had known him for far too many years to believe him.

"Aw, hell. What's _wrong_ with you? She's my sister! She's just a kid!"

While he wouldn't have said anything to James, Scorpius found the repetition of this remark unfair.

"She's hardly a child, Al." He snapped. "She's fourteen -"

"You're nearly seventeen!"

"She'll turn fifteen first." Scorpius said sullenly.

"Why does that matter?" Al demanded. "Are you – are you planning on asking her out or something?" He couldn't exactly decided if that would make it better, or worse.

"No." Scorpius said quickly. "Really, Al, I'm not." It was the truth, too. It might have crossed his mind once or twice but he hadn't intended to actually do it. "Look, I...I guess I sort of noticed that she'd...grown up a bit, that's all. I didn't see her over the summer, and she's changed. She looks older. And...and..." He flushed deeply. "Prettier. But I was just noticing, I wasn't ogling her or anything," that was a lie, he was pretty sure he'd been doing exactly that, "she's your little sister, and I've known her for years. I wouldn't..."

Al looked at him for a long moment. "I guess." He sighed. "She does look older. And Rose said the other day that she'd was getting prettier, and that if we didn't watch out she'd have a boyfriend soon."

For some reason, the thought of Lily having a boyfriend wasn't a pleasant one for Scorpius.

"I'm sorry." Scorpius tried.

"You...you definitely don't..._like_ her, or anything?" Al asked awkwardly.

"No, of course not." Scorpius said swiftly. Even though he was afraid that he might be starting to _like_ her, actually.

--------

Since James glared at him every time he saw him, and Albus watched him like a hawk, Scorpius did his very best to avoid Lily as much as possible, over the next few weeks. And, though Rose asked him a few pointed questions and Ally made a point of getting him alone and telling him that he could trust her with anything, if there was something he needed to talk about, Scorpius pushed all thoughts of Lily away, and refused to mention her name.

After a month, he'd pretty much convinced himself that he'd been completely mistaken, and that everything he'd told Al was true.

Lily, on the other hand, looked at Scorpius with a whole new consideration.


	2. Chapter 2

**Thanks a lot for all the reviews, I didn't expect that much feedback. **

_-------_

_November 16__th_

Lily smiled as she folded the letter, and tucked it carefully into her pocket. She took another moment to study the picture, leaning against the wall outside the Great Hall. Scorpius saw her, and, because of the way he'd spent the end of his sixth year, started to walk past her before stopping himself.

It wasn't as if he still had that weird _thing_ about her anymore; and James was no longer here to over-react. So why should he avoid her, when he didn't really want to? Besides, he resolved as he walked towards her, it was just bad manners to ignore her.

"What's that?" Scorpius' voice made her jump, but when she recognised him she relaxed again. He may have been avoiding her for most of her fourth year, but they'd always got on well.

And she liked him. Too much, she'd admit, if only to herself.

"New picture from Teddy." She told him, turning it around to show the two girls. Dora, at three, was beaming and waving, while her sister Adelaide, at one, was looking at the camera curiously, one arm stretching to reach it.

Scorpius smiled. Though he didn't see Teddy very often, his daughters were great kids. "Adelaide's grown a lot." He remarked.

"So's Dora" Lily nodded. "And I'll go home at Christmas and they'll have grown even more. Adelaide said my name over the summer, did Al tell you?" Her eyes lit with adoration. "She can only say a few words right now, but she said 'Lily'. It was amazing."

"It sounds it." Smiling at her, he nodded. "Teddy and Vee must be proud."

"They are. And they're trying to get pregnant again." She informed him, tucked the photo back into her pocket.

"Really? That's great."

She hesitated, because this was the longest conversation they'd had in a while. And then decided she might not get another chance.

"Remember last year? When James...Ah, when you and James had that argument?" She flushed, briefly. He barely saw the red stain on across her cheekbones before it faded again.

He smiled, but looked uncomfortable. "I wouldn't exactly call it an argument. But yeah, I remember. I'd sorta hoped _you_ wouldn't."

"That...what was that? Was James just – imagining things...?" She shifted awkwardly.

He blew out a breath. "No. Not really." The second he said the words, he wondered if maybe this was the kind of situation where lying was the best approach. Too late now, he thought, and waited for her reaction.

"So you..." She couldn't say the words, already felt heat on her face as blood pooled over her cheekbones again.

"Uh, yeah." To her amusement, colour stained his cheeks, too. "But don't worry. That was – just a..." He flashed a smile. "You'd changed a little over the summer. I noticed. But I was never going to, um...Well. We're friends, right?"

"Yeah." She said. Thankfully, her voice was normal, even if she did feel strangely breathless.

"And I never intended for that to change." He blew out another breath. "Well, that was awkward."

"Yeah." She laughed. "Sorry for putting you through that." And then, before she'd even thought about it, the words were out there. "Since we're mates, do you want to go to Hogsmeade together this weekend?"

"Uh..." He looked stunned, she thought. But she didn't bother regretting the words, or wishing to take them back; Lily had, far too often, said things that she probably shouldn't, and had learned a long time again that she couldn't even drag them back.

"It's just, I want to go, but Hugo and Lorcan and Lysander are having guy time, and I don't really want to hijack that, and Lydia isn't well, so she doesn't plan to go."

"Ah, sure. Why not. As mates." He said. He knew, really, that he shouldn't, but he tried to defend himself internally, repeating "as mates" in his head.

"Right. I'll meet you in the entrance hall, then?" She said brightly.

"Sure. Great." He nodded. "I, uh, better go, I'll be late for Charms."

"Yeah. Me too. Ah, for Potions, that is."

They muttered goodbyes and walked away from each other, both wondering what exactly had just happened.

-------

"You're going on a date with Scorpius?" Lydia whispered it, though the noise level in their potions class was loud enough to cover their conversation.

"No – it's not a date." Lily hissed, throwing a handful of dried seaweed in the cauldron. "We're just going together. You said you didn't want to go, because of your cold."

"Yeah, I know. But you could've gone with the guys, they said they didn't mind." Lydia carefully added a spoonful of beetle eyes. "Instead you asked Scorpius on a date. Lily..."

"It's not a date." Lily repeated. "It's just a friends' thing. Listen, after, you know, that thing last year, he was avoiding me, and barely talking to me, and well, it was just stupid. You know we always got on well, and it's not like he can spend the rest of our lives staying away from me, when he's Al's best mate. This is just a – a way to get over the awkwardness and get back to normal, that's all. It's the smart thing to do."

"Yeah, it would be, if you didn't -" Lydia glanced around to make sure no one was listening, and lowered her voice even more. "I _know_ you like him, Lily. It doesn't matter how many times you deny it, I've known you your whole life. Almost. And I doubt I missed much in that first year. You do like him, and this...this little trip isn't going to help that."

"You don't know that." Lily said, not bothering to lie. "Maybe I'll realise he's really a horrible person and I won't like him anymore." She stirred the potion with more care than necessary, in order to avoid Lydia's gaze.

"Yeah, I'm sure he'll kick puppies on the way down and bitch about muggles and spit and all the other stuff you hate. That sounds likely." Lydia reached out, closed her hand over Lily's to stop her stirring, and dropped three dead centipedes into the potion, one by one.

"Ha ha. You never know. Lyd, I don't even like him that much, honest. Not in, you know, _that_ way. And I'm aware that he's not interested – I'm not stupid, I'm not expecting anything. And it's probably only because he was staying away from me that I liked him anyway. I think I just missed him a bit, and read too much into it, you know? We'll go to Hogsmeade, and we'll come back how we used to be, and..." She flashed a smile. "Really, Lydia, don't worry about me."

"I just don't want you to get hurt, Lily. I'd love it if you and Scorpius fell in love -"

"Lydia, you'd love it if _anyone_ fell in love. You're a sucker for all that."

"True enough. But just be careful, Lily. He's a seventh year, and he's your brother's best friend..."

"Lydia, you're overreacting." She tipped some salamander blood into the potion. "I know what I'm doing."

Lydia sighed, and nodded. "OK. Stir anti-clockwise seven times."

-------------

_November 19__th__, 2022_

As Lily walked towards Scorpius in the entrance hall, slightly nervous though she wasn't sure why, she wondered if Albus knew what Scorpius was going today. She briefly considered asking, then decided that might make things awkward, and it implied they were doing something wrong.

"Hi," she said brightly instead. He found himself smiling back without thought, and echoing her.

They walked for a few minutes in silence, before the conversation started, and they were talking, joking, laughing. It was easy, normal, as if they'd never gone all those months with limited contact.

"Do you remember, Teddy's seventeenth birthday party?" Lily asked, as they neared the village. "You sat in a corner for, like, half the party."

"Do you blame me? My Grandmother had dragged me along so she wouldn't be alone, guilting me into it, actually, and then abandoned me to sit with Andromeda in the kitchen. I was in a room full of all these kids I hardly knew."

"And then James walked over to you and asked if you were going to sit there for the whole time, of you wanted to come outside and shoot water guns with the rest of us." Lily smirked.

"And said it in such a way that I felt like an idiot for assuming I wasn't invited." Scorpius smiled. "I was all shocked and grateful and embarrassed. I guess he felt sorry for me."

Lily shrugged. "Maybe. He could never stand to see anyone left out, and you did look pretty miserable."

"I'd never been included before." He said wistfully, then offered her a smirk. "It was a big moment for me."

She laughed at that. "Bless. James always liked you. Probably just because Teddy did, but still. I think he was quite pleased when you made mates with Al. And, you know, he tried to stop the bullying."

That made him stop, for just a moment. He was walking again before she realised, though. "Really?" He said it casually, so she didn't notice how embarrassed he was. His years of torture weren't something he liked to talk about, and were something he was ashamed of. The fact that she knew about it – even though it was hardly a surprise – bothered him somewhat.

"Mmm. He's never liked bullies, ever. I mean, he used to pick on Al quite a bit, but that was a brother thing, you know? And he never took it too far, never upset Al too much. I remember him once having this big fight with our Fred, because he was picking on a first year. The kid was terrified and Fred...well, people were laughing, and I guess he just assumed that meant it was OK. He wouldn't let up, just kept tormenting the poor kid. James went mental, they had a proper, physical fight, then he made Fred apologise to the kid, _and_ walked him – the boy - back to the Slytherin dorms."

"He was a Slytherin? And James still defended him?" Scorpius asked. The second the words left him, he realised he shouldn't be surprised.

"Course." She sent him a sideways look. "James didn't care about his house. He was a little first year, a scared little kid, and Fred had taken it too far." She shrugged. "Fred's a year older, and he and James have always got on great, but...well, James wouldn't stand for it. They made up, obviously, the same night. Anyway, Rose told me that when people started bullying you, James was annoyed by it, because he didn't think you deserved it, and because he knew you – I think he remembered you as that kid who sat in a corner till he was told you join in."

"Lovely. That's the way everyone wants to be thought of."

"Yeah. Well, I, um, I guess you remember being pushed down the stairs..."

"In my second week. Yeah." He remembered, vividly, the harsh push, the fear of the fall, the pain of the edge of the step as his head hit it, the repeated blows as he fell down half a flight, unable to stop himself. He remembered stopping at the bottom, disorientated, bleeding a little from his head, and several areas of his body aching. The pain and the mortification.

"Well, James flipped. The guy who did that, he was a couple of year ahead of James. But, Harry Potter's son and all that. That guy never bothered you again." Lily shrugged. "And then, a week later, you were locked in broom closet -"

He remembered that, too. Three older boys had cornered him in an empty corridor, pushed him around, then shoved him into the cupboard, locking the door. He'd been there for over an hour, banging on the door for a while, trying to ignore the childish fear of the dark that was trying to ebb back. Eventually Professor Longbottom had rescued him, and Scorpius remembered the humiliation of being found like that, with tear stains on his face, his eyes wide and panicky.

"James and Mitch pulled the guys up. They were in their year, you see, and James knew them quite well. They'd sort of been friends until that. But James tried to put a stop to it all."

Uncomfortable with this knowledge, he simply nodded. "That was nice of him."

He swiftly changed the subject.

Several hours later they hiked up the hill to the castle. They paused in the entrance hall; her common room was up, his down.

"I guess I'll see you around, then." He said, half-smiling.

"Yeah. Definitely. I, uh, I had a good time, today." Lily said, somewhat awkwardly.

"Me too." He touched her hand, murmured, "see you," and turned and walked away. She stood, for a moment, watching him, then walked up the stairs.

She paused at the top, and rubbed her eyes, uncaring that she'd smudged her make-up. She needed to see Lydia, to have someone talk some sense into her.

Though she'd expected to have to look for ages for Lydia, she caught sight of the blonde hair a few minutes later, and chased after it.

Lydia turned, looking half amused. "How was it, then? Your date?"

"It wasn't a date." Lily replied automatically. "I need to talk to you." Grabbing Lydia's arm, Lily pulled her down the corridor, looking around to make sure they were alone. "I have a problem."

"What kind of problem?" Lydia asked. Lily closed her eyes, bitterly thinking that she despised girls who worried about and talked about boys.

"A boy problem."

Lydia snorted. "Aw, bless, how hard was that to say?" When Lily only glared, Lydia smirked. "OK, lemme guess. Scorpius didn't do anything to make you dislike him? Instead you like him even more?"

"I hate you." Lily muttered, without heat.

"You too. So, what're you going to do about it?" They started walking, slowly, down the corridor.

"Avoid him and hope it goes away?"

"Yeah, that'll work. Maybe we should get him some puppies to kick, then you'll dispise him."

"Gee, Lyd, you're so hilarious." Lily muttered. Darkly, she added, "He wouldn't kick them anyway."

"How rude of him." Lydia said, amused.

"And, you know, he didn't even spit. Not once. You know how much I despise spitting - that would've fixed everything."

"Yeah, it's a real shame. He likes you too, you know."

"I feel like a five year old." Lily muttered. "This is such playground talk. He does not like me. As far as he's concerned, I'm Al's sister, Rose's cousin. I'm sort of his mate. Just some kid."

"Uh-huh. You're so naive sometimes. Trust me. I know all about these things."

As Lydia had managed a couple of boyfriends, despite having a teacher for a father, Lily couldn't argue with that.

----------------

Alone in his dorm, Scorpius pulled a pillow over his face. "You're an idiot, Scorpius." He muttered. "A complete idiot. And Albus'd kill you if he knew who you were thinking."


	3. Chapter 3

**Wasn't going to update so soon, since I've only got another chapter (and a bit) after this one written, but then I read all the reviews from the last chapter, so...Don't know exactly when I'll update again - shouldn't be too long, but I've got a couple of exams next week that I'm not nearly prepared for, so my writing time is going to be drastically cut to make room for revision time...ick. Anyway, thanks a million for the reviews, and here it it.**

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_23__rd__ November, 2022_

He was alone. In his early years of Hogwarts, Scorpius wouldn't have dared walk down corridors alone, not after the broom-closet incident. Once he'd made friends with Al, and then by default Rose and Ally, there'd always been someone to walk with. And though he'd felt pathetic doing so, he'd relied on them for protection. And though they couldn't always do so, though he'd still suffered, mostly his friends had sheltered him.

If nothing else, they'd supported him. If he was the kind of person to think such things, he'd think of them as his sanctuary, and wonder what would have happened to him without them to keep him grounded and sane, as well as sheilded from the worse of the hate and actions of others.

But today, Scorpius had had to run back to his dorm for a forgotten book, and it hadn't occurred to him to ask Al to come with him. Even if it had have done, his pride would probably have prevented him from doing so. His pride, as damaged and small as it was, had often been all he'd had left.

Sometimes, being a Malfoy really sucked.

However. He was walking quickly down the corridor, his bag slung over one shoulder and bouncing slightly against his back with every step, aware that he was minutes away from being late, but hopeful that he could make it on time. He hated being late, joining a class when everyone was sat, feeling their eyes on him.

He didn't notice the other boys until he was feet away from them; though they'd noticed him. Fellow Slytherins, in the year below him, he was pretty sure. Two of them were taller than him, though, and Scorpius cursed his lack of height. Average height he may be, but he found himself looking up at people far too often to believe his height was really that common. And, though a part of him thought it irrational, he sort of believed that if he were taller, no one would mess with him – and if they did, he'd have a better chance of fighting.

"Malfoy." The tallest of the trio said coolly. Scorpius spent a moment searching for the boy's name, realised he didn't know it, and simply nodded instead. "How's your grandfather?" The boy continued. He had a strange sort of face, his features uneven. He wouldn't have been called ugly – in fact, he'd captured the interest of several girls – but all his features seemed as though they'd belong better on separate faces. With his question, however, a smug look came into his eyes, and his features were sharpened by arrogance.

Scorpius paused, forgetting about his class, and looking at him in confusion. "He's, uh, fine, as far as I know." Wondering if he was about to be told his grandfather had keeled over and no one had got around to telling him, Scorpius stayed where he was, even though some instinct was telling him to get away.

"Ashamed of you, I bet." The shorter boy said. He was a inch or two shorter than Scorpius, but almost round. His face looked extremely young, Scorpius noticed, but his eyes were glinting with cruel humour. "His only grandson, practically a blood traitor. Hanging around with _that_ lot. And going on _dates_ with Potter's daughter." The third boy remained silent, unmoving, simply watching Scorpius with something close to fascination on his face.

"I didn't go on a date with anyone." Scorpius said swiftly, wondering how many people thought he had. "And I can't say I care if my grandfather's ashamed of me, to be honest." Hadn't he, after all, lived for years with his grandfather's disapproval? Wasn't he painfully aware that he was a disappointment to his grandfather? And, after being subjected to taunts and cruelty and misery for years, wasn't he just as ashamed of his grandfather?

He made to walk past them; the tall boy grabbed his arm. "_You_ should be ashamed of _him_, too." He sneered. Though Scorpius' thoughts had been on a similar line, he doubted their reasons were the same; this was confirmed with the boy's next words. "Lying his way out of prison. _My_ grandfather's in Azkaban."

"You must be so proud." Scorpius said coldly. He was well practiced in coldness; his eyes cooled, the grey becoming flints of ice; his voice held such frost the air around them seemed to cool. He pulled his arm away, took three steps forward, then whirled around when a jinx sped past his left shoulder. "What the hell are you -" The disgust had become anger, though his eyes and voice didn't warm with it; the cold simply took on a sharp edge.

"Hey! Leave him alone!" At the other end of the corridor, Lily was striding towards them. Scorpius felt, for a moment, pleased to see her, then remembered the situation he was in. "Are you OK?" She demanded when she reached them.

"Yes. Go away." He said flatly. He didn't want here her, didn't want her to get hurt, or, on a more shallow level, to see witness his torment. As much as he'd buried it, he still liked Lily, more than he should, and what she thought of him mattered. Watching him get beat up would likely lower her opinion.

And besides that, he didn't want anyone to see, anyone to know, anyone to pity him.

She ignored him, rounded on the tallest boy, who looked down at her in amusement. From his angle, Scorpius could see the absurdity of it; Lily, a foot shorter, glaring up at the boy, feet apart and hands on her hips. Her anger may have been evident, but being short and slight, she hardly posed a threat.

"Leave him alone." Lily said, her eyes blazing. "He's done nothing to you; walk away." There was authority in her tone, which some might mistake as arrogance; in actuality, it came from having to deal with a large family, having to speak in a loud, authoritative tone to earn attention.

The boy looked back at Scorpius, his eyes dancing with hilarity. "You've got Little Potter defending you? Couldn't you afford a better bodyguard, Malfoy?"

"I don't need a bodyguard." Scorpius said, his voice still frost. "Go away, Lily."

"No." She snapped it out, rounding on him. Her eyes were, he thought for a brief moment, like blue fire. "You're not going to be able to fight all three of them, are you? Three on one – like the cowards they are." This was said with a look back at the boys.

"Don't worry, Potter, we weren't gonna hurt him." The smaller of the boys said, laughing as he shoved past Scorpius. The others followed, smirking.

"Thanks. Thanks for that." Scorpius snapped. His voice was still coated in ice; his grey eyes were just as cold. "Not content with letting _them_ have a go, you thought you'd humiliate me? What the hell did I ever do to you?"

"I was _helping._" Lily snapped, the heat in her voice contrasting starkly with his cold. "It wasn't right, them all ganging up on you -"

"Not everything's about right and wrong. In fact, hardly anything is ever that simple. I was handling it." It stung, the humiliation of it. The thought that she'd not only witnessed it, his greatest shame, the thing he'd never wanted anyone to know about anyway, but that she'd thought him so weak she needed to defend him. That she, an undersized fifteen year old girl, was better equipped to handle three sixth-years than he.

"Yeah, and then I'd've been visiting you in the hospital wing!" One of them must of moved closer, because there was now a little less space between them.

"Why would you bother visiting me?" He replied instantly. His anger was well and truly underway now, so that he'd forgotten all about the lesson he was supposed to be in, forgotten that they were in the middle of a corridor, forgotten that she was his best friend's little sister. "Unless it was to take pictures and show them around? Do you have any idea what you just did? By the time I go to the common room tonight, everyone'll know _Lily Potter_ was defending me. Even those who didn't completely despise me – they'll –" He could hardly complete a thought, never mind a sentence. "- and as for those who did – I - I won't be able to look anyone in the eye!"

Not that he ever did anyway, but that was beside the point. He normally got on OK with the other guys in his dorm, after all.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Her voice dripped with sarcasm. "Next time you're outnumbered like that, I'll just ignore you, shall I? Everyone else seems to just stand back and let you be treated that way, why should I be any different just because I _care_?" Her anger was tangled – anger at him, because of his reaction, anger for him, because of the way he was treated. There seemed, oddly, to be even less space between them, as though they'd both been creeping closer to one another.

"You don't _care_, you just -"

"Don't act like you understand me! God, you're such an idiot, why bother wasting my time?"

It was an odd moment. His anger was cold, frozen, and hers was boiling over. The air almost snapped with the contrast between fire and ice. He could hardly stand the embarrassment; she was agonizingly frustrated. At the moment, he could hardly stand the sight of her. So why he kissed her, he had no idea.

After a moment, they both seemed to realise what was happening, and sprang back, blinking as though suddenly exposed to bright sunlight. They'd moved a full foot away from each other. "Well. That's one way to shut me up." She said, somewhat dazed.

"I'm sorry." He muttered. "I don't know what I was thinking – I wasn't thinking." His eyes were no longer ice; they were round, the pupils large, some unreadable emotion evident in them.

They looked at each other in awkward silence for a full minute.

"Aren't you going to say it?" She said finally, sounding slightly annoyed.

"Uh...Going to say what?" He asked, confused. His mind was blank, and he couldn't tear his eyes away from her.

She rolled her eyes, but felt nervous, uncertain. "That...that we've been waiting to do that for months, but neither of us had the guts. That it was only a matter of time before we stopped being – being stupid..." She stumbled over the words, sure that he ought to be the one saying them, though she wasn't sure why.

"What are you trying to say, Lily?" He asked. He cooled his voice again, because he knew exactly what she was saying, and needed to force her away.

With an impatient noise, the threw her arms up into the air. "Damn it Scorpius. You know exactly what I'm saying. And you know I'm right. There's something – something between us, something there. You know it. We've just proved it!"

He looked at her levelly for a long moment, then took a deliberate step back. "I think you've been reading too many fairy tales and love stories, Lily."

He saw the hurt. It flashed in her eyes. He saw the shock, in the way the shape of her mouth changed, to form a small circle. She stepped back, too, stumbling away from him. "Don't – don't talk to me like that. As if I'm some stupid little kid who thinks every story gets a happy ending."

"Real life not's like that, though, is it?" He said flatly. "Everything isn't all roses and rainbows."

"Who do you think I am? You know me better than that – you know I'm not like that." She was stunned, but the anger was working its way back up, slowly. "You know I'm right. I don't care if you don't like it, if it scares you, if it disgusts you. Don't stand there and deny it, don't lie to me, and make me out to be some silly little girl."

He rubbed his eyes, suddenly tired. Tired of having to put up with hassle for crimes he didn't commit. Tired of being judged for someone else's actions. Tired of lying to himself.

"OK, you're right. I'm sorry I said those things. You deserve more than that. But it doesn't change anything. I don't care what's between us, it would never work." His voice was perfectly polite, perfectly cool and impersonal.

"Why not?" She demanded.

He smiled, but there was no humour in it. "Because you're my best friend's little sister."

"My parents -" She protested, annoyed, as they were both aware that her mother was her father's best friend's little sister.

"Because I'm a Slytherin." He replied, in the same calm tone, despite her protest. "Because I'm a Malfoy, and you're a Potter."

"You think that matters?" She said evenly. "You think any of that matters?"

"Yes."

"I don't. I don't care about any of it." She fixed her gaze on his, her face stubborn, her voice challenging. "Let's give it a shot, Scorpius. Let's see what happens."

"No. You know who I am. My family. You know what they've done. We're destructive, Lily." He wasn't aware of taking another step back from her. "Don't you think I've thought about it? I wish it were different, I honestly do, but I'd destroy you, Lily."

"Do you hear yourself?" She forced herself to keep the annoyance, the frustration, from her voice, keeping it calm and unimpressed instead. "You sound ridiculous. You're making things a lot more dramatic than they are."

"I'm not. Really, Lily, it's what we do. Malfoys. I wouldn't want to, I'd try not to, but eventually I'd hurt you."

"You have the potential to be hurt in any relationship." Lily replied flatly.

"No." He shifted back a little more. "I'd destroy you. I'd break you, and I won't – I can't."

"Scorpius, for God's sake, if you're not interested, just say so. Don't stand there giving me stupid excuses." Rejection stung.

"I'm not! You don't understand, you can't understand, but I won't drag you down with me -"

"Stop it. You're being stupid. Who do you think you are? Let me tell you how this works, OK? Boy meets girl, boy likes girl, boy kisses girl, boy dates girl. That's how it works. You seem to have got confused on the last point."

"You're being condescending." He said coolly. "I don't care if you think I'm being stupid. I...I'll see you around, Lily."

"No." She snapped it out, as he started to turn. "You think you can mess me around this way? No. You want to be friends? Well, I want to be more than that, and if I don't get what I want, then neither do you. Stay away from me."

Angry and humiliated, she stormed past him.

And he didn't have the guts to tell her that no matter what, he wasn't getting what he wanted.

Not for the first time, he despised being a Malfoy.


	4. Chapter 4

**Well, finally. Don't know when I'll update again, exams tomorrow and Wednesday. Thanks to everyone who reviewed, let me know what you think of this one.**

_30__th__ November, 2022_

She'd got to him. He didn't know how – if it was the kiss, or her parting shot - but she'd got to him. A week later – a week of her refusing to even meet his eyes, a week of her firmly not even glancing at the Slytherin table, a week of her refusing to look at him if they passed each other in the corridor – he was irritated with the world.

She knew what she was doing, he thought angrily. Walking straight past him, deliberately at the other side of the corridor, clearly not looking at him, deep in conversation with Lydia, or Hugo, or one of the Scamander twins, or, and he'd noticed these with deep displeasure – a _guy._ Not one she was related to, not one of the twins, who he knew were almost like brothers to her, but actual _guys._

She knew what she was doing. And the way she avoided looking at his table, always facing away from it – how the hell did she always get a seat facing away? Surely, by law of averages, she ought to end up facing his table sometimes?

And when he'd tried to talk to her...On the Friday, two days after the...incident...he'd tried to talk to her, thinking her anger would have gone. She hadn't even looked at him, walking around him as though he was a mildly irritating obstacle in her path, an inconveniently placed statue.

She was on her way to lunch when he saw her, crossing the entrance hall, alone. Striding forward, not caring that he knocked into a first year, not noticing that a Ravenclaw in his year shot him a dirty look, he let his anger build up, ready to let it out on her.

He grabbed her arm, pulled it lightly so she turned to face him. And felt his anger evaporate.

Her head had whipped round in annoyance, but her expression had changed instantly when she'd realised it was him. To his surprise – and his shame – she didn't look angry at all. Instead, there was hurt, there was humiliation. And, now he was looking – really looking, really noticing her – he saw that her face was clean of any trace of make-up, even though he hadn't seen her without eyeliner since she was thirteen and a half. He saw that she looked tired – not quite enough for shadows or bags under her eyes, but undeniably tired – and that she'd pulled her hair back, into a long ponytail down her back. He hadn't seen her hair tied back since she was about ten, and he'd seen her at King's Cross station. It wasn't the way she wore it, wasn't the way she liked it.

"You...you look terrible." He said. He'd hoped to see the fire in her eyes again, only realised now that he'd rather liked it.

"Thanks." She muttered, and pulled her arm from his grasp. Then she offered a wry smile. "I had my first taste of rejection recently. It didn't really agree with me."

He swallowed. "Lily, I didn't mean to hurt you -"

"You didn't." She protested indignantly.

"You look like you've barely slept, and you aren't wearing make-up, and your hair -"

"Oh, and that has to be down to you?" She snapped. "I have to lose sleep because you're an idiot? I have to change my appearance because you think so little of yourself? Maybe, just maybe, I'm tired because of Quidditch training, and homework, and the fact that my exams are a matter of months away, and one of the girls in my dorm keeps having nightmares, and waking us all up screaming. If you look, you'll see that Cyndra and Lissy and the others are tired, too. And maybe I overslept today, and didn't bother with make-up. Maybe I just had double-potions and tied my hair back so it wasn't in my way." Irritated, she glared at him. "Not everything centres around you, Scorpius, least of all me."

And she glared at him, willing there to be nothing but annoyance in her eyes. He'd caught her off guard, and she hadn't been able to stop the hurt and embarrassment showing.

They were alone in the entrance hall, now, the other students busy eating and talking. For a long time, he studied her.

"I'm sorry." His words seemed, to her, to come from nowhere.

"For – for what?"

"Assuming you were – like this – because of me. It was arrogant, and – and...well. I'm sorry, also, for being an idiot."

"Good. You should be." She made to move past him; he grabbed her arm again, lightly, to stop her.

"I've changed my mind." He said it quickly, without deciding, without really being aware where his thoughts, words, were heading. "I thought about what you said. I _was_ being dramatic. I mean, my parents have managed pretty well. And my grandparents. And it's not like _we're_ getting married, is it? I was...I was stupid."

"Yes, you were. You were being stupid, and you were being a drama queen. It's nice that you've figured it out – well done." When he opened his mouth to speak, she shook her head. "Do you honestly expect me to just - what? Jump for joy, cry, "yippee" and jump into your waiting arms? No, Scorpius, I won't let you mess me around. You said no; that's it, that's done. I'm not going to put up with you constantly changing your mind -"

"I won't, this is it -"

"How do I know that? How do _you_ know that? I'm not going to let you push me away and drag me back in. I won't be _that_ girl. It's not worth my time."

She stalked past him; he let her, looking after her with an open mouth.

-----------------

"But...I thought you liked him." Lydia said, frowning in confusion. They were alone in the Room of Requirement, on opposite ends of the window seat, facing each other.

"I do." Lily shrugged. "But it's not worth the hassle, is it? He gave me this stupid speech, all these ridiculous reasons why he wouldn't even consider us getting together. And then, a week later, he changes his mind and decides, hey, it's not a big deal, we're not talking marriage or anything, let's give it a shot. What if I did, what if I agreed to, um..."

"Go out with him?" Lydia offered.

"Yeah, that, but that phrase sounds so childish. Anyway, what if I did, and then _next_ week, he turns around and says, oh, actually, I'm not good for you, this won't work out, see you around? And then, a week after _that_, what's to stop him -"

"Changing his mind again, yeah. But, well, maybe you should give him a chance?" Ever the romantic, Lydia still believed in true love, and was determined that everyone should get it.

"I can't, Lydie. I like him, more than I've ever liked a boy. So I can't."

"Why?"

Lily bit her lip, gazed out of the window. "I just can't."

Lydia opened her mouth to speak, then seemed to think better of it. Because she knew – just instinctively knew, the way only close friends do – that Lily needed silence, she settled back on the window seat without a word.

---------

He didn't entirely know what to do. In the grounds, by the lake, in the shadow of an ancient tree, its branches hanging so low Scorpius hoped they hid him, he tossed a stone from one hand to the other. Maybe ten years or so ago, he'd have died of shock when Lily had refused him. That Scorpius, the small child he'd been, had been used to getting his own way, getting everything he wanted. It was a wonder he hadn't been more spoilt, really. Everything Scorpius had asked for, he'd been granted. He'd even been allowed to skip the parties and events his parents and grandparents were attending, if he'd wished. Mostly.

It had only been when he'd arrived at Hogwarts, faced hate, fear, hostility, that he'd realised how easy his life had been. Sheltered from most of the negative emotions his family elicited, he'd been ill-prepared for what faced him. And, during that first night, when he'd crowded with the others, waited to be sorted, he'd been amused by the foot wide gap around him, amused by the silly fears of his peers. And, at his table, in his dorm, he'd been so resentful about having to share a room he hadn't noticed the nervous looks, or the hateful ones. The hanful of students who held some respect for his family – or rather, their parents or grandparents did – had tried to offer their friendship; Scorpius had easily brushed these away, disgusted by their kind. Death Eaters, pure-blood maniacs, Voldemort admirers, he despised them all, had done from a small age. In the interest of peace, he and his grandfather never mentioned these topics around each other, hadn't for a number of years.

It had become apparent, however, that everyone assumed he was a carbon copy or his father or grandfather. A bully, a pure-blood fanatic, a snob. And, as no one bothered to look closer, to test their theories, Scorpius was pushed down stairs, locked in cupboards, jinxed and hexed, tripped and kicked, cornered by sneering groups. He was subjected, frequently, to verbal abuse, whether it was a snide comment in class, or a long tirade in the hallway.

In the middle of his first November, he'd been grabbed in a headlock by a seventh year boy in the entrance hall. The boy had forced Scorpius' head up – which had momentarily filled his mind with visions of having his throat slit – and forced him to look at the memorial plaque, the one of the dead.

"Are you proud they're dead?" The boy had hissed, his anger and hate so fierce Scorpius could almost taste it in the air. "Look at the memorial – look at the names -"

Scorpius had barely been able to breathe, the boy's arm was so tight around his throat. But he'd managed to shake his head.

"No," he'd choked, "I hate it, I hate it."

"My aunt." The boy murmured. "My aunt's name's up there. She was only seventeen – that's younger than I am."

"I'm sorry." Scorpius had been terrifed. This boy was taller, stronger, older - what was to stop him just snapping his neck? "I really am. But it wasn't me – I wasn't even born, wasn't even _thought about -_"

It didn't matter. His non-existence at the time of the war was a mere technicality to most. Scorpius had been called both murderer's spawn and murderer, often several times in the same day.

After a while, he'd stopped protesting, accepting that this was his lot, his punishment for being who he was. He'd accepted his torment as the right of those hurt and damaged by the war, those who'd had to live with the aftermath.

He hadn't been, prior to Hogwarts, overly confident. He'd never have been described as outgoing. But after the first few months at the school, the confidence he'd had had been destroyed. He'd been reduced to someone who cringed at the sound of his name. He'd been reduced to someone unable to meet anyone's eye. He'd been reduced to someone who'd felt panicky in crowds, who'd despised attention.

And then, one herbology lesson, after a remark about his father – by Professor Longbottom – he'd burst out with the magic words – _I'm not my father!_ He'd practically screamed it, before running from the greenhouse. Albus had tracked him down, and with one sentence – _I'm not my dad, either –_ had sealed their friendship. And Professor Longbottom, who'd been unable to stop himself disliking Scorpius, had apologised, the very next lesson, in front of everyone.

While Scorpius still felt somewhat panicky in large crowds sometimes, and while he still disliked attention, having a friend, a real friend, had changed everything. Internally, having a friend – and later, when Rose and Ally had accepted him, multiple friends – had helped his own self-esteem. Externally, the bullying dulled rapidly, as he was the friend of a Potter, bizarrely, and that made people reluctant to bother him. Few wanted to offend the Potters, or the Weasleys.

Although, Scorpius now wondered if James Potter had actually had something to do with his diminished torture.

Annoyed, he threw the stone as hard as he could. It hit the water, hard, sending spray into the air, and ripples across the surface.

_After everything Albus's done for me – and James, James, defending me, for God's sake. And here's me, sulking because their sister...I shouldn't even..._

Scorpius jumped to his feet. What he was going to do, right now, was tell Al everything. He was going to admit to his transgression, and hope he still had a friend at the end of it.

He was storming down a corridor, five minutes later, with no idea where Albus even was, when she rounded a corner and walked right into him. He caught her, automatically, before she could fall, and then realised who she was.

"Lily." He said it softly, and for a long moment she just looked at him.

"Sorry." She said, when she found her voice. "I wasn't watching where I was going. Thanks for, um, not letting me fall." He was still holding her arms, and she felt far too close. Almost as though she was suffocating. And yet she didn't step away.

"My fault." He muttered. "I was walking too fast."

"In a hurry?" She asked, forcing a smile on her face. "Where you going?"

He finally let go of her arms, stepped back. "To tell Al. That I, um, well, you know. About _us._ Me and you."

"There is no us." Lily said, frowning now. "What exactly are you planning to tell him?"

"Everything, everything that's happened." He started to move past her; she shifted, blocked his path.

"Why would you want to do that? Are you crazy? What's the point?"

"The point is, I should never have – you're his little sister. I should never have even thought about you as anything more than that -"

"I think Albus is aware that I am an actual person, not just his sister -"

"And I need to apologise." He said, over her pithy comment.

"You can't tell him. For one thing, it's weird for him to know about me kissing guys. Well, you. For another, you don't know how he'll react. There's just no point telling him, really. You're just being a drama queen again."

"It'd make me feel better." Scorpius replied. "Besides, he's going to want to know why we aren't speaking, why we aren't ever even in the same room. I think he's already starting to notice."

Lily paused as this; it was a valid point. After a moment's deliberation, she nodded. "Then we – then we'll go back to being, being friends. We'll act normal around each other. I know what I said, before, but...but we can be friends again." She stumbled over the words, feeling awkward.

"I don't want to be friends." He said flatly. After a long moment, she spoke.

"Me neither." She shook her head. "Damn it. Why you? Why couldn't I be interested in someone _normal_?"

"Gee, thanks."

"You know what I mean. You would have to be Al's best mate, and a Malfoy, and a Slytherin, and all the rest of the things you said last week." Annoyed, she stormed to the other wall, then back. After a moment, he realised she was pacing. It made him smirk, because he'd assumed no real person paced.

Finally, she whirled round. "OK, listen to me. Listen. One chance. That's all we're going to give this, because those on-again off-again couples drive me crazy, and I refuse to along with your stupid little whims."

"_Whims_? Who even _says_ that?" Half amused, half confused, he smirked at her.

"I couldn't think of a better word." She snapped. "Anyway, back to what I was saying. We give it one chance. You change your mind again – or I do, for that matter – that's it, over, for good, right? We just give this – this whatever it is between us, the chance to play out a little. It's probably just because we're so _not_-suited to each other, anyway. What's that saying, about wanting what you can't have? Is it even a saying? Well, it's probably that. So we'll just, see how it goes."

"Rambling." He said, because he couldn't find any other words. "You're rambling."

"It's because I'm nervous. I ramble when I'm nervous." She offered him a tense smile. "So, what do you say?"

"I think it's a good idea." He said finally, because she seemed determined to be rational about this. "But, I'd like to add my own little condition."

"Go on..."

"I think we should, um, not tell people. Not that I'm ashamed or anything," he added quickly, "but I think it'll be less complicated if we, sort of, keep it quiet."

She blew out a breath. "OK. That sounds smart. Besides, if we realise that we actually hate each other, all the drama - of which I'msure you'll contribute to - would be for nothing. So, OK. Let's keep it secret."


	5. Chapter 5

**Hell yeah, exams over. Till May, anyway. So, thanks a lot for the reviews, and here it is.**

_3__rd__ December, 2022_

Four days passed. It was almost like playing a game in way. Slipping into unused classrooms to spend five minutes together before they had to rush off somewhere. Giggling like children as they hid in broom closets, trying to keep each other quiet, and only making it worse, while crowds of students passed by, unaware. Sneaking around in the night, into the grounds or the room of requirement, under the invisibility cloak.

There wasn't really much need to do all that. No need to catch five minutes between lessons. No need to hide in broom closets giggling for ten minutes. No need to sneak out of their dorms under cover of darkness.

But it was more fun that way.

They spent most of Saturday morning together, in the Room of Requirement. As it neared three o' clock, Lily sighed a little.

"I've gotta go soon." She told him. They were sat together on the sofa, tangled comfortably in a way neither had expected to spend any time. Lily hadn't expected them to become a _couple-y _kind of couple – not least because they were pretending, in public, to be no more than friends – but she'd found that, even in such short a time, they had reached a stage of easy familiarity. They managed to find comfort tangled together, or held hands while they talked, or, if they were walking down a corridor alone, he'd even wrap his arm around her waist. It was an unexpected, but altogether rather nice, development.

"Um-hm." He nodded, and toyed with the ends of her hair. "When you finish. Go on."

She rolled her eyes. "I told you, it's not an interesting story."

"You fell out, didn't you?" He offered her an amused smile.

"Yeah, but I nearly reached the top first. Broke my ankle, though. Mum fixed it straight away, but I definitely learned my lesson. Never climbed that tree again."

The conversation continued for several more minutes, then she started to detangle herself. "I better go. It's already five past."

"Mm-kay." He murmured, and caught hold of her face. Then he was kissing her, and she forgot all about the time, and her plans with Lydia. "You know," he whispered, his face very close to hers, "you could just stay here all afternoon. Lydia won't mind."

"Lydia'll kill me. I really have to go."

"I really wish you wouldn't." He replied lightly, and kissed her again.

-----------

"Where have you been?" Lydia demanded, as Lily ran towards her in the courtyard. "You're fifteen minutes late."

"Sorry, so sorry. I got, uh, held up." Lily smirked a little, which didn't escape Lydia's attention.

Lydia narrowed her eyes. "Lily. Where were you?" When Lily shook her head, trying to form an innocent expression, Lydia's eyes narrowed even more. "Come on. Spill it."

"Nowhere. Nothing." Lily replied. "Anyway, I feel like I haven't seen you in ages -"

"Nu-nu-nu-nu-nu-nu. Don't change the subject, Missy. You look guilty as hell, Lily Potter, and I want to know why."

Lily hesitated. "I can't tell you. It's a secret." One she'd been dying to share with Lydia since the beginning. It was a thrill, knowing that no one else was aware of it, but at the same time, she was used to telling Lydia everything.

"You never keep secrets. Not your own, anyway." Lydia replied flatly.

"Well I've kept this one for, like, four days, so there."

"That's a record. Why can't you tell me?" Somewhat hurt, Lydia studied Lily's face.

"It's...it's not just my secret, and we agreed not to tell anyone. I'm sorry."

"Lily...how much do you love me?"

"Ah, Lydie, don't _do _that. Really, you ought to have stopped that one the year you turned, like, eleven."

When Lydia only looked at her, pulling the perfect mistreated puppy face – no one did it quite like Lydia – Lily sighed. "OK, OK, but you have to promise not to tell anyone – I meant it, Lyd, don't breathe a word of it. Never mention it again."

"That bad? What, did you kill someone?"

Lily laughed. "It's not bad. It's...it's a good thing. OK, um, I told you about Scorpius, the other week? The, uh, argument we had."

"And the kiss, yes." She titled her head. "Did he kiss you again?"

Lily laughed. "Ah, yeah, that's part of it. Lydia, I don't know if I was really stupid, or really smart, but I, well, we agreed to give it a go, me and him."

Lydia's eyes widened; she smiled. "You're together? In _secret_? Wow, Lily, that's – so unlike you to back down, but great -"

"Shh, someone'll hear you. I couldn't help it. But yeah, we're a – a couple. In secret. For the last four days, anyway."

"How've you even kept that hidden? How've you been meeting up? Where?"

"All over the place. I mean, no one notices if we sit around and talk, as long as we don't talk for too long. So we talk a lot, which is good, you know."

"Is he a good kisser?"

"You asked me that last week." Lily replied, half-smirking.

"And you said you barely remember. Since you two are both smart, I assume you've managed to meet up privately a few times, and that you could remember at least one."

"I suppose you'd assume right."

"So tell me all about it." Lydia said, linking her arm through Lily's as they began a slow walk.

----------

"I guess I shouldn't have told her." Several hours later, alone in the room of requirement, sat together on a sofa but ready to spring apart if the door opened, Lily looked at the floor instead of at her boyfriend.

Boyfriend. It still felt weird to think of him that way.

"She won't tell anyone." Scorpius stated. "It's OK. I suppose it's a girl thing, right? Rose and Ally tell each other everything."

"Exactly." Relieved, she half turned so she could look at him. "And she really won't say a word to anyone. But I can't lie to her, and she noticed something was going on."

"Lily, really, it's fine."

"Good." She hesitated. "Um, since you don't mind, I was thinking I ought to let Hugo know, too."

"What?" He sat up straight, dislodging her somewhat as she'd been half-leaning against him. "Hugo? Lily, he's bound to tell Al -"

"He won't. Really, Scorpius, we've been keeping each other's secrets for as long as I can remember. I trust him with my life, I promise. If I ask him not to say anything, he won't."

He considered her for a moment. "You guys are really close, aren't you?"

"He and Lydia are my best friends. It's a...it's a different dynamic, because Lydia's a girl, and Hugo's a boy, but...I feel bad not telling him, especially now Lydia knows. I guess I'm just not used to secrets."

"Tell him." Scorpius said finally, wearily. "I guess...even if he does tell someone...it won't matter too much. The secrecy thing...I feel kinda weird, keeping it from Al, especially since you're his sister."

"Well...How about, I tell Hugo, and we get his reaction, and um, maybe we'll start telling people...Albus first, of course." She added graciously, though the idea of Albus knowing made her feel awkward.

He hesitated. "Start with Hugo. And if we're still, um, OK, by the end of term...We'll, um, we'll go public."

"OK. OK, good. I mean, the secrecy thing – though it's fun – it's sort of making a bigger deal out of it than we need to. No one'll mind or anything..."

Yeah, Scorpius thought. No one'll care at all. Except all our family and friends.

---------

_6th December, 2022_

Three days later, she found Hugo in the common room, alone at a table, books and parchment spread around it. She smiled a little at the sight of him, frustration on his face, as he screwed up the parchment he'd been writing and put it with a pile of other screwed up pieces.

"Hey." She said, sitting opposite him. "Struggling, are we?"

"Uh-huh." He muttered, not looking up at her. "I've got most of it done." He gestured towards a couple of pages, beside him. The writing wasn't neat, but Lily knew he wouldn't rewrite it for neatness. "I just can't finish it." He dragged one of the books closer to him, and started to read.

"Take a break, then. I need to talk to you."

"OK." He said instantly, pushing the book away again.

She hesitated. She'd known Lydia would approve, all along, and hadn't been worried at all. Hugo, however...his opinion wasn't already set in her mind, and his opinion mattered to her. It had taken her three days to work up the nerve to tell him. "Ah, when's this due in?" She didn't, after all, want to distract him too much, didn't want him unable to go back and finish something urgent.

"Couple of days. Thought I'd better get it over with...I sort of wish I'd put it off for longer."

She smiled tightly.

"What's wrong?" He asked, noticing her expression. "Has something happened? Are you alright?"

"Yeah. Yes. I'm fine. I'm great, even. I need to, ah, tell you something. Something...something good. Not bad. Well, I hope you won't think it's bad."

"Lily, you're rambling. Why are you nervous?"

"Hugo, you have to promise not to tell anyone."

"Promise." He said instantly. Lily nodded, smiling slightly.

"It's just..." She glanced around, but no one was close enough to hear. She dropped her voice anyway. "I've sort of, um, for the last few days, um...secretlybeenseeingScorpiusMalfoy."

He spent half a second trying to distinguish the words, which had poured out at such a speed he hadn't caught one of them. "Let's try that again, at normal human speed this time." He said, studying her worriedly. "For the last few days you've sort of...?"

"Been seeing...someone. Um, in secret."

"Like a boyfriend?" He said. "You have a secret boyfriend? That's it? God, Lily, you have me worried. I thought something bad had happened. Come on, then, who is he?"

"You have to promise not to tell anyone. And not to, uh, flip or anything."

He frowned. "Lily, who is it? Why would I flip? You're not, like related or anything are you?"

"What? Ew, of course not. I hope you were joking."

"Course I was joking. We have the same family, remember? I'd know if you were related. Come on, who?"

"Scorpius."

He paused for a moment while the word sank in, then tilted his head. "Malfoy? _Al's_ Scorpius?"

"How many do you know? And don't say _Al's_ like that, as if they're a – a couple or something." She said it nervously, searching his gaze for his feelings.

"They couldn't be a couple, could they, if _you_ are?" He said, but not maliciously.

"Come on, Hugo, what do you think?"

"I think...you're not stupid. So you wouldn't do this unless you really liked him. And I think he wouldn't, either, unless he really liked you. So, I, I...I'm not bothered by it, Lily."

"You really don't mind?"

"Of course not. He's a nice enough guy. It might be weird for Al and Rose and Ally. But still."

She breathed in relief. He asked a few more questions, reassured her a little, then waved her off to her dorm. Then he took the marauder's map out of his pocket. James had, on his last day of Hogwarts, handed it to Albus, who'd made of point of remarking how he'd borrowed it all the time anyway, and it was hardly a big deal, even though everyone knew he was secretly pleased. Hugo had borrowed the map the day before, and still hadn't returned it. Now, he unfolded it, touched his wand to the centre, and murmured the magic words. After several minutes, he found Scorpius' dot in the library.

Ten minutes later, Scorpius exited the library and found Hugo stood outside it, waiting.

"Hi." He said, in surprise.

"Hey." Hugo said calmly. "Lily told me."

"Oh." Scorpius said. "Uh, are you here to hit me?"

"No." Hugo flashed a brief smile. "I'm not _bothered_ by it." The word "bothered" was said very carefully, as though to imply something Scorpius didn't quite pick up on.

"Oh. That's good. Good." Scorpius nodded. Hugo was only a couple of inches shorter than him, he noted, and knew that this was because the boy was tall for his age, rather than Scorpius' own minimal lack of height.

"Don't mess her around." Hugo said. It wasn't threateningly, or menacingly.

"I won't." Scorpius said, half frowning. Hugo only nodded, then turned and walked away.

It took several minutes for Scorpius to realise it hadn't been an order, but a request. Thoughtfully, he made his way back to his dorm.

----------

In her own dorm, Lily lay awake, curled into a ball, on her side. She never actually slept curled up, but when she was worried this was how she attempted to comfort herself.

Staring blanking at the hangings, she tried to sort out the thoughts that were tangled in her head.

First of all, Hugo seemed fine with her little secret. And that was big relief.

Second, as long as she and Scorpius didn't call time on this before end of term, she would have to start telling the family about them.

And third, she liked him, a lot. More, she thought darkly, than ought to be possible, given the short amount of time they'd been together.

And fourth, _he_ would be telling _his_ family, too. And from what she'd heard about Lucius Malfoy, she might wind up with poison in her pumpkin juice.


	6. Chapter 6

Thanks to everyone who reviewed. Al's reaction in this chapter, and next will be James and the parents.

_14__th__ December, 2022_

"Really, you don't have to tell him yet. I mean, we don't break up till Friday – that means we have today _and _tomorrow to fall out." Lily was speaking very fast, so that someone who didn't know her may well struggle to keep up. Thankfully, Scorpius knew her well, and managed to make out every word, with minimal struggle. "And Friday morning, too, really. Train journeys can be very -"

"Lily. I have to tell him." Scorpius spoke calmly, though his stomach was twisted into knots. "We agreed, remember? And it's been two weeks. And I don't see why _you're_ so nervous – he won't be mad at you. _I'm_ the one dating his younger sister." One of his stomach knots seemed to tighten, and Scorpius mentally called himself several unflattering names. This was his best friend, this was _Al_, and there was no possible reason to be nervous. What was the worst that could happen?

Other than Albus cursing him into non-existence, of course. Or refusing to speak to him ever again.

"I'm not that young." Lily protested, her eyes flashing. As the youngest member of her immediate family, and the youngest blood member of her extended family, her age was something she was often touchy about. Discuss her height (or lack thereof) and it didn't bother her in the slightest. Mention her small build, and she'd smile and point to Lydia, who was tiny by anyone's standards. Insult any aspect of her appearance, and it wouldn't even brush against her nerve. Bring her age into it, and you could start a full scale war.

"I think that fact saves my immortal soul." Scorpius replied drily. "Stop sulking. It's unattractive."

She stuck her tongue out at him. "Like I care whether or not I look attractive?" She replied, raising her eyebrows.

"Yeah, yeah. I was only joking anyway." He said. They stopped outside the doors to the library. "Now, listen, I'm going to go talk to Al. If I don't come back, remember me as I was." He flashed a smile, which might have fooled her, if not for the eyes. When she glanced up, she saw the nerves in them, the apprehension. Reluctantly, she decided to drop the debate.

"Ha ha. He won't be that mad. You'll survive." She managed a somewhat bright tone, though unconsciously bit her lip.

"Uh-huh. Sure. I'll see you later."

He glanced around to make sure they were alone before kissing her briefly. Then, sending her a smile that was more confident that he really felt, he slipped into the library. Her muttered, "I'll send out the search party in an hour," reached him just before the doors swung shut.

He'd chosen to catch Albus in the library in the hopes that he wouldn't create too much of a scene. Scorpius paused just inside the door, however, as Al appeared to be completely alone. Even the librarian seemed to be missing.

"Of course." Scorpius murmured. Taking a deep breath, he crossed over to the table where Al was sat. "Hey."

Al jumped, then looked up. "Hi. Sit. Give me an excuse to take a break." He dragged a hand down his face.

"Sure. What're you doing?" Scorpius sat, looking down at one of the papers lain across the table.

"Rose's transfiguration notes." Al said, somewhat sheepishly. "Mine are a little...vague."

"I've seen your notes. Vague doesn't cover it. There are holes the size of London in those things. And the abbreviations you use – and then forget -"

"Only some of them. I remember what most of them mean. Anyway, Rose agreed to let me copy hers out, so I'm trying to finish before Quidditch practice this afternoon. I'm nearly done, but it's really, really boring. So, what's up with you?"

"Me? Ah, nothing. Nothing at all." Scorpius said. He very nearly chickened out completely, then reminded himself that this was his best friend, his first friend, and this was the least he owed him. "Actually, there's something I have to tell you." The words seemed to come out naturally enough, and Scorpius spent a second analysing the knots in his stomach. They seemed to be less painful now, when he was here, facing Al.

"Oh." Al studied him for a moment. "Uh, what it is?"

Scorpius gave himself a moment, twirling Al's spare quill around. "It's a girl." He said finally. He'd considered several ways of doing this, and been unable to decide which one to use, until now. "Ah, I've sort of been seeing someone for a couple of weeks." He glanced back up at Al as he said the last few words.

"What? Without telling me?" Albus was smirking. "I'm so hurt. Come on then, who is she?"

Scorpius ignored the question, unwilling to answer it yet. "She's great, really great, and I like her a lot, and I think she feels the same, you know?"

"Good, that's good. Ah, well done?" Al was, clearing, unsure exactly what to say. Scorpius remembered a couple of years ago, when Albus had started seeing his first girlfriend. Scorpius had burst out laughing, and teased him for weeks. They were, it seemed, too old for that kind of reaction now.

Oddly, he felt a fleeting sadness at that. Too old to laugh in that childish, carefree way. Not children anymore, but adults. In another few months he would have left Hogwarts behind.

"But there's a problem." He added, shaking the memory and the sorrow away.

"What kind of problem?" Al asked, looking confused.

"Well, I don't think her family will really approve." Scorpius realised his mouth was twisted into some kind of cross between a smirk and a grimace. Hurriedly forcing his facial muscles into a more neutral expression, he awaited Al's response.

"Why, because you're a Malfoy?" Albus said sharply, ever annoyed by Scorpius' negative self-image. "We've been through this -"

"I _know_, Al, but it _does_ matter." Scorpius replied with feeling. It was an old argument, one they didn't have time to go over. "It's not just that, though. I'm a little older than her, and her family is really protective."

"The best ones are." Al shrugged, smiling. "But I'm sure they'll like you. Well, you know, eventually."

"Right. See, she also has brothers. Older brothers." Scorpius elaborated. Amusement flashed into Albus' eyes.

"Ah. How many?" Al said sympathetically.

"Two. Well, sort of three." He corrected, thinking of Teddy. "They...they're great guys, but like I said, protective. Really protective. And I don't want to upset them, either. I hate for any of them to hate me." This was yet another clue, and he didn't bother being subtle about it.

Albus tilted his head. "I'm sure it'll be fine. Really. Don't over think it. How come you didn't tell me earlier? Do I know her?"

Scorpius nodded. He could see the beginnings of suspicion in Al's eyes, and felt only relief that the secret was going to be out, that he wouldn't have to lie or hide or deal with the guilt anymore. "You know her really, really well, actually."

There was a long moment of silence. Then Al sighed, put down his quill, and pressed the fingers of his left hand to his left eye. Slowly, he lowered his hand, and looked at Scorpius.

"It's Lily, isn't it?" He said wearily. They'd known each other long enough, knew each other well enough, that Scorpius was unsurprised by the question.

"Yes." He said. There was a fleeting urge to close his eyes, though he was unsure why. "I'm sorry." He added quickly. "Do you hate me?"

Al paused. "The stuff you said – about how much you liked her, and – and she liked you. Is it true?"

"Yes. All of it, everything." Scorpius said quickly. "I meant every word, Al, I swear."

Albus hesitated, then shook his head. "Of course I don't hate you." He paused, considering, trying to detangle his thoughts and feelings. "It's...it's weird – and you should have told me earlier."

"I know, really, I was – we were just worried about how you'd react. Hardly anyone knows, though."

"Hardly anyone?" Al said, narrowing his eyes. "Who did you tell?"

"No one. You're the first one _I_ told. Lily told Lydia and Hugo, though." He was speaking just a little too fast.

"Oh. Alright then."

"You...are you OK with this? Me and Lily?"

Al almost jolted at the phrase. _Me and Lily._ It sounded so weird to him, felt weird to try and picture them as a couple. And yet, it didn't sound wrong.

"Um, yeah, I guess so. It'll take some getting used to, but, well, if my sister has to have a boyfriend...I guess I trust you." It was true, Albus decided. Wouldn't he rather Lily be with Scorpius than that Hufflepuff jerk who'd had his eye on her a while back? Or any of the guys Lydia had dated? Or, in fact, anyone else he could think of. "Yeah. I'm definitely OK. Are you, uh, telling other people now?"

"Yeah. Yes. Probably. Do you think we should?"

Albus hesitated, then spoke slowly. "I think...keeping this secret much longer...is a very bad idea."

Scorpius didn't know exactly what he meant, but didn't question it, either.

---------

They decided, after some deliberation, that they'd have to tell Lily's family directly. And, after some more deliberation, decided that they'd started with the Scamander twins, and Rose and Ally; her various cousins would have to wait until she'd told James and her parents.

So Lily sought to Lorcan and Lysander, dragging Lydia along with her. "You're not scared of what they'll say?" Lydia said incredulously.

"Of course not." Lily replied. "I'm scared of what they'll _think._"

The boys were bickering when they found them. Used to this, neither girl bothered to ask what was wrong, or to help resolve.

"Hey, stop, Lily's got an announcement." Lydia said brightly. This caught both their attentions, and Lily almost squirmed.

The words came out easy enough. _I'm going out with Scorpius. Malfoy. You know, like, a couple._

There was a second of silence, while the words seemed to hang in the air. Then Lorcan smirked. "James is gonna love that one."

Lily winced. "I know. Don't go there. I don't want to think about it."

"Since when did you like Scorpius?" Lorcan added, still smirking.

"Oh, you know, a little while. What do you think?"

The conversation that followed was mostly between Lorcan and Lily, which Lydia noticed. Looking at Lysander curiously, she waited for further comment, but it wasn't offered. All he'd managed was a, "That's cool," before lapsing into silence.

Lydia thought maybe she knew what that meant, but refused to think about it in case she was wrong. She jumped when Lily grabbed her arm. "I'll see you later then, thanks, bye."

With that, Lydia was pulled down the corridor.

-------

"You and Lily?" Rose looked at Scorpius, her expression unreadable. "But you said last year that you didn't like her."

"So I lied." Scorpius shrugged. He looked from Rose to Ally expectantly. "Does it bother you?"

"That you lied to me? Yes, greatly. That you're with Lily? Not, not at all."

"Ally?" Scorpius asked.

"Why would it bother me?" Ally asked, smiling at him. "I think it's great, Scorpius."

He almost collapsed again the wall in relief.

"Hey, Rose." Albus said. "Ask him how long they've been together?"

Rose looked at him for a moment, then narrowed her eyes as she turned to Scorpius. "A couple of days, right Scorpius? In fact, even better, just an hour – less. Then you ran straight down here to tell us."

It was an accusation, and sounded like one, despite the wording. Scorpius cringed.

"Uh, well, actually, we didn't know how everyone would react, and we wanted some – some time without people knowing."

Rose's eyes were still narrowed. "So you kept this from us? From your friends, her family? Well, thank you for the trust. How long?"

She didn't look too angry, Scorpius decided. Still, he winced when he spoke. "Nearly three weeks..."

As Rose launched into an irritated speech about friends, and trust, and ridiculous guys with too little self-esteem, Scorpius shot Albus a look.

"Thanks for that."

Albus didn't even look ashamed. "Hey, she'd find out sooner or later." He murmured, so Rose wouldn't hear him. "Better now. And it's always fun to watch her tell you off; you're so scared of her."

"I am not." Scorpius muttered. But he nodded his way through Rose's speech, looking ashamed, and apologised for the secrecy.

Then he relaxed. It was no longer a guilty secret; the people who were important to him were happy for him.

Well. Most of them were.

_Next, Scorpius, you have to tell your parents._

Running his hands through his hair, Scorpius wondered how long he could put that off for.


	7. Chapter 7

A more detailed reaction from Draco next chapter, promise.

_17__th__ December 2022_

James Potter yawned as he dressed, despite being awake for a total of fifteen minutes. It had been a late night last night, though, Lily and Al's first night home. And he didn't mind losing a little sleep to catch up with their news. It was weird, not being there, at Hogwarts, with them.

He'd just finished dressing when there was a soft knock on the door. "You awake?" His sister asked through the wood.

"Yeah." He replied, and flopped into the chair when he sister walked in. It was an ancient armchair, one that had been in the exact same place since he was five. Though it had originally been a vibrant blue, it had faded over the years, and was covered in stains; drinks, paint, food, and any number of other things. He had laughed in that chair, cried in it, read and written letters in it, slept in it. It held a million memories and James had no plans to replace it.

"Lily? What's wrong?" He asked, the second he saw her face. In silence, she crossed the room and sat on the edge of his bed. Her eyes were anxious, darting about, and she kept biting her bottom lip, the way she did when she was nervous or scared. And, looking at her, he realised she was both.

"I need to talk to you. I have to tell you something." She said it quietly, in a thin voice that wasn't hers. Her eyes darted to his face, then away. He'd figured last night that there was something going on, from the looks she and Albus had kept exchanging. It had been difficult for him, to sit there and know that the two of them had a secret that didn't involve him. Not for the first time, he'd felt like leaving Hogwarts had pulled him away from his siblings.

"Lily, what is it? Has something happened – has someone hurt you?" He stood, then sat beside her, his arm around her, as he spoke.

"No. No, I'm OK. James, you have to promise me, you won't get mad. Will you promise?"

"Aw, Lily, what've you done?"

"Please, just promise." She urged him, and he nodded.

"I promise. I promise, Lily. Come on now, you're scaring me."

"I didn't mean to scare you. I'm sorry. I just don't know how you're going to react." It was right there, as she tried to find the words, that she realised why she was so overly-nervous, why she felt almost close to tears. James was the brother she'd always idolised, the one she'd gone to for help, the one she'd depended on most. His opinion was the one she feared, the one that counted most – more that Al's, or Hugo's, or Lydia's. More so, even, than her parents. And, she was almost certain that if he asked her – asked, not told – to break up with Scorpius, she would. Because she'd always, _always_ trusted James, and she didn't know how to do something he didn't approve of.

"Lily. It's OK. Whatever it is, it's OK. I swear." He looked scared, and she knew she was being unfair, worrying him this way.

She looked at the floor, picking at his quilt cover. Then spoke, the words too fast, too quiet. "I'm going out with Scorpius Malfoy."

She didn't look up, so missed the emotions that passed across James' face. Maybe she wouldn't have caught them all if she had been looking, as they passed across so fast. The first was shock, then horror, then anger – at Scorpius, not Lily – then sorrow, because this was Lily, all grown up. She'd never again slip into his room in the dark, because she'd had a bad dream and wanted his protection. She'd never again grip his hand when she was upset. She'd never again listen to his stories, hanging on his every word.

She hadn't, of course, done any of those things for a number of years. But it was in this moment that James' realised he'd lost them forever.

It was her face that calmed him. Twisted with misery, her anxious eyes refusing the meet his. He'd never intentionally caused her pain, and he refused to start now.

"Scorpius." He repeated, just to make sure. She nodded, still not looking at him. "Well, that's...that's...a surprise. I didn't know you, uh, _liked_ him." That topic made him feel uncomfortable, so he decided to leave it there. "Lily." He waited until she finally looked up at him. "You, you're, ah, happy with him?"

"Yes."

"And he – he doesn't – mess you around or anything?"

"No, no, he wouldn't."

"This is what you want? Despite all the hassle you'll get?"

"Yes. It is. I can handle the hassle."

He nodded. "I know. I know you can." He smiled, pride in his eyes. He'd seen Lily deal with hassel. "Then I guess I'm, um, I'm alright with it."

"You're sure?" She asked, straightening, her eyes brightening. He wasn't exactly _alright_ with it, not really, not yet. But he nodded anyway.

"If he hurts you, I'll have to kill him, of course." He said lightly.

"Of course." She nodded solemnly. There was still a trace of anxiety in her eyes. "You don't – you don't hate me, then?" She asked. He wasn't sure if it was a joke, or if she was serious, so he combined reactions for both possibilities. He smiled, and rolled his eyes, then spoke, his words sincere. "I love you, little sister."

He hugged her, tightly. And, though he knew it was irrational, knew he was over-reacting, guilty of the over-protectiveness everyone had accused him of, James felt like he was losing his little sister.

---------

"Ick. Had to be a Malfoy, didn't he? Of course he'd have to be the one guy I have to run home and tell my dad about, before he hears it from someone else. Couldn't've picked someone who's father hadn't been my dad's second-worst enemy."

"Second worst?" Albus asked, his eyebrows raised. "OK, sure, Voldemort was number one, but don't you think maybe some Death Eaters are higher on the list than Draco Malfoy?"

Lily paused, considered. "Maybe. Well – Dad shouldn't have so many enemies! One enemy is all a person needs."

"I'm sure he'd agree with you." James smirked. "Calm down, Lily. And if he flips, I'll provide the get-away car."

Lily smiled. She knew nothing about cars, but the shiny, red, little convertible James had splashed out on when he'd made a reserve Quidditch team was a beauty. "I'll hold you too that one." She sighed. "OK. Let's get this over with."

There was no doubt about them being there with her. No one knew exactly how their father would react; so it was automatic that Lily's brothers would be there beside her. She entered the living room first, biting her lip at the sight of both her parents. She'd had obviously interrupted a conversation.

"Hey, kiddo, what's up?" Ginny asked. When James and Albus walked in behind Lily, and positioned themselves on either side of her, she settled back against the sofa, and waited.

"Lily has a little news." James said carefully. He was trying extremely hard to keep his voice casual. He nudged Lily, and she suppressed the urge to stare at the floor.

"It's not a big deal." She said, as though daring her parents to disagree. "I just thought you should hear it from me, before some else mentions it. I've sort of – well, not sort of, I actually have – been seeing Scorpius Malfoy for a couple of weeks."

Ginny heard Harry's sharp intake of breath, and gripped his wrist lightly as she absorbed the information. And, because Lily was looking at her, she nodded once, and smiled slightly. Harry was silent – and, Ginny realised, didn't appear to be breathing.

Instead, he was staring at his daughter. His little girl, with a boyfriend – and boyfriend – who was Malfoy, and a seventh year. Horrified, he looked at his sons. And realised they were stood close to Lily, their stance protective, as though she may be under threat.

Did they think he'd hurt her? Harry breathed, once, in surprise and shame. Did they really think there was a remote possibility he'd lose his temper over this, and hurt his daughter?

He forced himself to calm down. Though his muscles were still tensed, he began to breath normally.

"When you say...seeing..." He managed finally, hoping desperately that the meaning of the words had changed at some point since he was her age, that he'd misunderstood.

"We're a couple." Lily nodded.

"Ah." He paused, searched around for something to say. "And it's – it's _serious_?"

"Uh, no, Dad. It's only been a couple of weeks." She said nervously, wishing with all she had that she wasn't about to be subjected to a sex talk.

"Ah, right." No serious, he told himself silently. Not serious, it was OK. This was just one of those things, a normal teenage relationship. It would die out in a few more weeks, and everyone would be over it. "Um, well." Unable to think of anything else to say, he looked pleadingly at his wife. Looking amused, Ginny squeezed his wrist before she released it, and stood.

"Come on, Lily. Tell me all about him." Lily looked relieved as she followed her mother from the room.

Harry was left with his sons. "You, ah, you knew about this, then?"

"She told me this morning." James said, sitting in the armchair. "Albus knew a few days ago."

"Scorpius told me." Al confirmed. "He was going crazy with the guilt of keeping it a secret. It's OK, Dad, he's a good guy. And he's my best mate, he wouldn't hurt her."

"And he's scared of me, so we're doubly OK." James said lightly.

---------

Scorpius considered a million ways to tell his parents about Lily on the train ride home. He considered the different ways of phrasing it when he actually got home. He silently rehearsed it, changed it, and postponed it. Then he got a letter from Lily, telling him she'd told her parents, and they were pretty much OK with it.

His turn, then. He eventually decided to wait until dinner that night; his paternal grandparents were joining them, so he'd only have to say it once. His maternal grandparents, after all, were unlikely to be concerned by it.

---------

"...is a complete liability. But of course, his father's the chairman, so no one will say a word. And even if they did, his imbecile of a father wouldn't do a thing." Scorpius ignored most of his grandfather's complaints, and resisted pointing out that Lucius himself was only on the board of whatever they were talking about because he'd thrown money at it.

"That's life, father." Draco nodded solemly, half-amused, half-exasperated.

"As I tell him." Narcissa nodded. "Besides, Lucius, we didn't come here tonight to hear about you and your complaints. We came to see Scorpius." She smiled at her grandson with a warmth reserved for him. Scorpius forced a smile.

Lucius made some kind of noise, which could have been agreement. "How was the term, Scorpius?"

"Fine. Yeah." Scorpius nodded.

"And your marks?"

"They're pretty high, yeah. Some of the teachers reckon I could get top-grades in their lesson." He didn't mention that those lessons were Herbology and Muggle Studies. "Oh, and I got a girlfriend."

Silence. It was his mother who broke it, after a few seconds, and beamed at him. "Scorpius, you never told us! Who is she?"

Scorpius looked right at her, smiled, and said, "Lily Potter."

The atmosphere, which had been surprised, tensioned, and no one spoke. Scorpius ate three forkfuls of food before the silence was broken.

"Lily Potter." His mother repeated. "Um, Scorpius, would this be _the_ Lily Potter? Ah, your friend Albus' sister?"

"Yep, that one."

"_Harry Potter's daughter?_" This burst from his grandfather.

"There you go. I thought you might have heard of her." Scorpius was amused. His father looked stunned, his mother's face was carefully blank – but Scorpius thought that might have been amusement in her eyes – his grandmother was gazing at him uncertainly, and his grandfather looked furious.

Scorpius had never seen someone's face go that particular shade of red.

"You can't be serious." Lucius snapped finally. "Your pathetic little jokes have no place at the dinner table, Scorpius."

"Oh, I'm not joking. We've been together almost a month now. She's a great person, actually, I think you'd like her."

"Like her? Scorpius, do you know who that girl is? Not only Harry Potter's daughter, but Arthur Weasley's _granddaughter_. A Weasley, Scorpius!"

"Yeah, I heard that somewhere." As his father didn't seem to have moved, Scorpius turned to his grandmother.

"I realise this probably seems strange to you." He told her carefully. "I'm not sure how you feel about Harry Potter. You don't talk about any of that. But you'd like her. She's great."

Narcissa nodded.

"Of course she is." Astoria said, kicking her husband under the table. "I'm sure any girl Scorpius likes is perfectly nice."

"Ah, yes." Draco managed. "Perfectly. Ahem, Scorpius, I'm sure you have some, uh, homework to do. Why don't you..."

Scorpius stood. He'd managed to pretty much clear his plate anyway. "I don't have any homework." He said brightly, starting towards the door. "But I'll go write to Lily, let her know I've told you."

With that, he slipped out of the door.

"There we go." He murmured as he climbed the stairs. "Surprise and amusement. Best tactics."


	8. Chapter 8

**Not as good as it could have been, but I think it'll do. Next chapter'll be up soon, since I just reworked a Jigsaw Piece a little for it. It's cheating, I know, but it belongs in here, and I have added to it. Anyway, this comes first.**

_18__th__ December 2022_

He was surprised it had only taken a day, really, for his father to recover enough to speak with him. He'd expected it to take three, four, before Draco managed to approach the subject with his son, so he hadn't done his usual anxious rehearsing, planning every possible scenario he could manage.

So when Draco knocked softly on his bedroom door, then entered, Scorpius shifted uneasily.

"I think we need to talk." Draco said awkwardly. He took a seat on the very edge of the sofa opposite Scorpius' bed, where he'd been sprawled, reading a letter from Rose. Hurriedly putting the letter on the table bedside his bed, Scorpius sat up properly.

"Right. Sure."

"Firstly, though your mother is absolutely certain that you were telling the truth last night, I have to ask if it was some kind of strange joke?"

There was a note of hope in Draco's voice that irritated Scorpius. He'd never even met Lily for heaven's sake.

"Sorry, Dad. I was telling the truth. Me and Lily have been a couple for weeks now." Irritated, he sat up even straighter. "And I'm not planning for that to change in the immediate future, either, so get used to it."

"Scorpius." Draco said sharply. "Don't speak to me like that. Whatever our disagreements, I'm still you father."

"Yeah. And you're doing great, too. I tell you I have a girlfriend, and you stare at me in shock for God knows how long. Other dads might have asked questions, or made weird comments, or just been indifferent. And all of that is fine – I can handle that. But you just _stare_ and I can tell that you're horrified by it. You don't know her, you've never even seen her!"

"I've seen her at the train station, actually." Draco said, because he couldn't think of anything else. It had to be the Potter girl, didn't it? Just had to.

"Dad! That's not the point here!"

"Look, son, I know you're angry. But it's hard for me to understand why you would willingly choose the one girl you knew would be the biggest problem. It's like you were trying to cause trouble. I know you and your grandfather don't always see eye-to-eye -"

"Try never."

"- but if this is an attempt to wind him up, it's a little over the top, don't you think? And it's not fair on the girl, either."

"For – Dad, not everything I do centres around this family! Do you really, honestly believe that I was just walking round one day, saw Lily, and thought it'd be fun to _use her to get to Lucius_?"

His anger and disgust was evident, so much so that Draco didn't reprimand him for using Lucius' name.

"No. I'm sorry. I don't think you'd do that. But you must understand why this is so difficult." Draco sighed, suddenly awkward. "Do you really like this girl?"

"Yes." Scorpius said, uncomfortable but unashamed. "I really do. This isn't about her surname, Dad. Don't you think we both tried to – to not let this happen?"

Draco hesitated, then nodded. "I do. I won't pretend to be happy about this, Scorpius. But I'm not going to try to stop you."

"Like you could if you tried." Scorpius muttered. Though Draco must have heard him, he let the comment pass. "Besides. Wouldn't Rose have got a better reaction?"

Draco rubbed a hand over his face, and hoped this thing would all be over very soon.

-----

Lily read the letter through twice, then pushed her hair away from her face. Ten minutes later, she'd worked up the nerve to leave the room, and seek out her mother.

Definitely her mother. It was far too awkward to talk to her dad about this. She found Ginny at the desk in the living room, writing. Though Ginny was evidently working, they were allowed to interrupt her when she was in the living room. If she shut herself up in her office (or rather, the tiny box room she'd managed to fit a desk into) they all knew she was on a deadline and not to be disturbed.

"Mum...I got a letter from Scorpius." Ginny put her quill down, and turned to face her daughter. It was a little difficult, her daughter, her youngest, her _baby_ all grown up with a boyfriend. But in a way, nice, too. "He, ah, told his parents. And his grandparents. The Malfoy grandparents, I mean."

"Ah. How'd that go?"

Lily waved the letter absently. "He found it _funny_. His grandfather is annoyed, his mum and grandma are OK with it, and he thinks his dad's still in shock. Anyway, he, um, wants to meet up. Before Christmas."

"You exchanging presents?" Ginny asked, smiling at her daughter's embarrassment.

"Um, kinda, yeah. Just, little things. We agreed we wouldn't – anyway. Is that OK? If I go out for a couple of hours sometime? With, ah, with Scorpius?"

Ginny nodded. "Of course. You're almost sixteen, Lily. You do have a little freedom. Is he picking you up?"

"What? Here?" Lily's eyes widened. "No – we'll meet somewhere. He can't come here! With _Dad_. And _James_."

Ginny laughed, but made herself stop when she realised how distressed Lily was. "Look, kiddo, isn't bringing him here the best way to show them – well, James knows him, doesn't he? But bringing him here is the best way to show your dad that he's OK. Just get him to come in for a few minutes, introduce them, and go. I think you'll all survive that."

Lily blew out a breath, ran a hand through her hair, and nodded. "OK. That sounds...smart. I guess. I'll, um, I'll check he's OK with that."

First, though, she sat heavily on the sofa.

She despised this whole boy-drama thing.

------

Her reply reached him about an hour after it had gotten dark. The agreement to meet up with him. The request that she meet his parents first. She'd explained what her mother had said, added her own agreement.

And he had to admit, it did seem the best way to make sure Harry Potter didn't envision him as some kind of leech.

But he still laid in the dark, wide awake, for several hours, wondering just how Harry Potter would react to him.

-------

_19__th__ December 2022_

She was more nervous now. In fact, Lily was certain this wasn't even nerves. Telling her father had made her nervous. She wasn't scared, because telling James had scared her.

This was more, different. She didn't even have a name for this. Her family was the most important thing to her in the world, and Lily would, under most circumstances, cheerfully die before she hurt any one of them.

These were not normal circumstances, however, and Lily was feeling something close to self-hate as she arrived at the Burrow. Today she would have to mention to her grandparents – casually mention, even though she wouldn't feel the least bit casual – that she was dating the grandson of Lucius Malfoy. Lucius Malfoy, who'd taunted her own grandfather mercilessly, who'd drawn on every doubt and guilt Arthur Weasley had and thrown them at him. Lucius Malfoy, who'd almost got Arthur's only daughter (and her mother, but this wasn't about her) killed when Ginny was just eleven years old, fully aware of what he was doing.

Lily had been scared her father would be angry. She'd been worried James would be disappointed and disapproving, and, well, a whole bunch of other things. But now, she was absolutely terrified that she was going to hurt her grandfather.

Arthur wasn't the focal point of their family. Grandma Molly was the matriarch, the centre, the leader. She gave the orders, and they were obeyed with love and respect. Arthur was quieter, and rarely scolded or gave orders. But he inspired just as much love and respect in his family.

God, she was terrified of hurting him. How could she do this? How could she tell him that her _boyfriend_ was the grandson of the man who'd hurt him, so much, so many times?

"Lily?" She'd been stood, leaning against the wall, at the side of the house. She'd been able to see the family, all gathered in the garden, and had seen her grandfather, sat in a chair with little Adelaide Lupin in his lap. She appeared to be gurgling at him, eliciting solemn responses. At the sound of her name, Lily looked away, and found herself face to face with Lysander, who was looking at her in concern.

Lysander's hair was a little longer than usual, she noticed. It was the same dirty blonde as he and his brother had inherited from Luna; except Lorcan had been wearing his purple for the last couple of years. His eyes were on her, his head titled.

"You don't look happy." He told her. "Ah, problems with, um, Scorpius?"

She put his slight awkwardness down to a fear she was going to get emotional and ask for relationship advice. She didn't know – no one did – that Lysander'd had a crush on her since he was at least ten years old, and that he was struggling to accept the idea of her being with Scorpius.

"No. No, we're fine. It's just, I have to tell Granddad today. Before he hears it from someone else." She ran a hand through her hair. "He and Lucius Malfoy – well, you know all about that. I don't want to hurt him, Zander. Do you think he'll be hurt?"

"I...If you're that worried about how everyone'll react, Lily, why are you with the guy?" He asked, avoiding her question. A part of him – that small, mean, jealous part – was hoping she'd suddenly realise how wrong Scorpius was for her, and break it off. Instead, she shook her head.

"Don't you think I keep asking myself that? Don't you think we've both talked about it? Zander, when he said he was going to tell Al, and I knew that meant we'd have to tell everybody, I really considered just ending it. Because I don't want to upset the family, or to make them mad. I don't want him to have to suffer any hassle, either, for me. But I couldn't, just like I couldn't stay away in the first place." She offered him a wry smile. "I tried to do the smart thing and stay away from him. Guess I'm just not used to doing the smart things."

"You could still break it off, Lily, if you wanted to." He said quietly. For a second, the briefest second, he considered telling her to end it with Scorpius, and give things with him a try, instead. But he'd sworn to himself, almost three years ago, that he'd never tell _anyone_, especially not Lily. That unless he had reason to believe she saw him as anything more than another cousin, he wouldn't risk their friendship.

"I can't. It makes me feel stupid and girly and pathetic to admit it, but I can't make myself end it, because I really, really don't want to. I can't explain it. And I know it's selfish, to put what I want above the family, but..."

"It's not selfish." He murmured. "The family want you to be happy, Lily, and if Scorpius makes you happy, well, no one will have a problem. And Granddad? He's the least prejudiced person I know. Don't worry about it."

She thought it over for about a minute, then smiled slightly. "OK. Thanks, Zander." She flung her arms around him, hugged him tightly, then released him. "I better go get this over with."

He watched her walk to Arthur, and sighed. For a long moment, he stood, leaning against the wall, unaware he was being watched by Lydia.

----------

"Granddad?" Lily sat down in the empty chair next to Arthur, immediately catching his attention. When Adelaide started to struggle, Arthur allowed her to wriggle from his arms into Lily's.

"What's wrong?" There was no pretences, no small talk or hints or dodging around the issue. They weren't that kind of family; and when something was so obviously bothering one of his youngest grandkids (the youngest blood grandkid, but since when did blood matter?) Arthur wasn't going to waste time. "Lily?"

"I have to tell you something." She said, looking at Adelaide instead of him. "It's...it's no big deal. I'm just a little worried you'll be – be upset with me."

"Lily, whatever you've done, you know this family will always love you, support you, and be proud of you." Arthur said carefully.

She'd heard the statement before, as had her cousins. When she was eleven, she'd tried to confess to accidently (it was mostly accidental) setting the old, largely unused broomshed on fire, and he'd said those words. She'd responded by asking if that still held if she decided to run away and become a muggle hooker.

He'd been stunned into silence, then laughed, while her father cringed and her mother reprimanded her.

She couldn't think of a clever, distracting line, though, so she simply shrugged. "I'll hold you to that. OK, here it is. I guess you remember Lucius Malfoy? That was stupid, of course you do. Well, he uh, has a grandson, Scorpius, and you knew that too." Awkward, she cut herself off, and was about to start again. She looked up in time to see Arthur visibly relax. "Lily, is this about you and that boy?"

Her mouth actually dropped open. She hadn't thought that happened to people in real life, but it did. "You – you _know_?"

"Of course. Your mother mentioned it to Molly, and she told me. Is that what had you so worried?"

She squirmed. He was amused. Well, wasn't that fantastic? Her mother was amused. James was, now at least, somewhat amused. Lydia was amused. Even Scorpius was amused. She seemed to be the only person who didn't find this whole situation funny.

"I thought...I thought you might be...I know you and Lucius Malfoy have a – a bad history. I thought maybe you'd think I was being...disloyal, or something."

His face softened. "Lily. I've met the boy. Only a few times, only for a small amount of time. But I've met him, and I know he's nothing like his grandfather. And I also know that you are not a stupid girl, Lily. I'm not upset or angry with you. I worry, of course, but I know you're smart, so I only worry a little."

She smiled weakly. None of this was the smart choice, though, was it?

"Thank you." She murmured, and would have hugged him if not for Adelaide, who chose that moment to grab a handful of Lily's hair and yank it. "Ow, ow, ow, OK, Addy, I'm paying you attention now."


	9. Chapter 9

**OK, like I said, mostly just a re-work of a Jigsaw Piece, but there are a few changes, and an extra scene on the end. Still, if you've already reviewed the Jigsaw Piece, I understand why you might not bother reviewing this, too. Next chapter will skip a few months, just so you know.**

_24__th__ December, 2022_

When he caught himself wondering if he ought to borrow one of his father's ties, Scorpius knew he was working himself up too much.

After all, he was only meeting his girlfriend's parents. That's all. And it wasn't like he was spending ages there; just picking her up, really. It would be a quick introduction, maybe a short conversation. Then he could escape, spend some time with said girlfriend, and drop her off home.

Simple.

Or it would be, Scorpius thought, half-annoyed with himself, if his girlfriend didn't happen to be Lily Potter. If her father didn't happen to be _the_ famous Harry Potter. That changed everything.

Actually, Scorpius thought, maybe it would still be simple – if slightly intimidating – if only he wasn't Draco Malfoy's son.

For a moment, shouts and sneers and taunts filled his head, until he shook them off, forced them away. He wouldn't think about that, now, wouldn't remember his years of torment.

"OK. We're done. We're ready. We can do this." Scorpius said to his reflection in the mirror. "It's time to go. We can do this. We can get through this."

As he left his room, Scorpius wondered which he should worry more about; the fact that he talked to himself, or the fact that he referred to himself as "we" while he did so.

-----------

"And you have to sit down, too, if he does." Lily lectured. "None of that standing-up-so-you-look-scary stuff."

"OK." Harry nodded.

"And don't throw him out, either." She added sternly. "I don't care what you think he's done wrong, you won't humiliate me that way."

"Right." Harry nodded again, wondering what excuse his daughter thought he'd find to kick the boy out.

"And give him a chance, please?" Lily's voice was less forceful now, almost pleading. "He's a great guy, Dad. I'd hate for to judge him just on his family's past."

"Lily, I promise. I won't even look at him as Malfoy's son."

Ginny caught her husband's eye at that point, but Harry refused to look guilty. It wasn't like it was a lie.

The fact that Lily's new boyfriend happened to be Draco Malfoy's son meant very little to him, now that he was over the shock. No, more important issues were that Scorpius was seventeen, and in his last year of Hogwarts, while Lily was in her fifth.

Her fifth year. Far too young for an of-age boyfriend, especially one who wanted to see her over the Christmas holidays. To take her out so they could exchange gifts.

On Christmas Eve!

Harry wasn't exactly sure why that offended him so much, but he was sure there was a valid reason somewhere.

Lily nodded, muttered something, and turned to James. "Same goes for you. Be_have_. For me?"

James, who'd spent the last ten minutes glaring out of the window at regular intervals, shifted uncomfortably.

"I wasn't planning on doing anything. I just don't see why he needs to meet up with you."

"And I don't see why you didn't go out with Albus." Lily muttered. James ignored her.

"Can't he go two weeks without seeing you?"

Lily rolled her eyes. "Just be nice. In fact, if you can, don't say a single word to him." With that, she turned and left the room. James sighed, and flopped into an armchair. Harry took his place by the window.

"Harry. Stop glaring." Ginny said mildly, and Harry couldn't fight the smile.

"I wasn't."

"Were. If this is because he's a little older than her -"

"Two years!" Harry corrected loudly. Ginny rolled her eyes at him.

"He's right, Mum. A whole two years. And he's of-age, and he's in his last year -"

"James, I'm aware of all that, thank you." Ginny turned back to Harry. "I'd like to remind you that I'm a year younger than you – and our Victoire is also two years younger than Teddy."

"That's different. It's – it's _Teddy_." And the idea of Teddy being unsuitable for anyone's daughter was absurd. James nodded enthusiastically.

"And Scorpius is a Malfoy?" Ginny asked flatly.

"No – it's not that – Scorpius is a hormonal teenager -"

"And Teddy was devoid of hormones in his teens, was he? And you, too?" Ginny asked, looking half amused, half exasperated. It was an expression she'd worn a lot over the years.

Harry opened and closed his mouth several times before giving up.

"You've met him before, anyway." Ginny told him. "You even said he seemed nice enough."

"Met him before? He came to a couple of Al's birthday parties. And Rose's. I didn't _speak_ to him - he seemed terrified around me."

"And I imagine Al and Rose were the same at Scorpius' birthday parties."

"And even if I did say he seemed _nice enough, _that doesn't translate into _good boyfriend for our daughter,_ does it?"

"Yeah." James agreed loudly.

"Lily seems to think he is. And as he's her boyfriend, not either of yours, I should think that's what matters."

"You would." Harry said, and smirked at her. "You went after your brother's best mate, too."

The cushion Ginny threw caught him full in the face, a second before the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it - don't you dare touch it!" Lily yelled, her footsteps echoing as she ran down the steps.

Harry and Ginny both stood up as Lily walked into the room, pulling a nervous looking Scorpius by the hand. James stayed sat, silent, just watching.

"These are the 'rents." Lily said to Scorpius, almost smirking at his discomfort. Turning to her parents, her expression turned challenging. "This is Scorpius."

Cue awkward silence. James met Scorpius' eyes, conveying with only a look that however friendly they'd been before, all had changed now. It was, Scorpius thought, looking away uncomfortably, plainly obvious that James was going to be monitoring this whole situation carefully.

Lily did what she often did when unsure of herself. She looked at her mother with a pleading expression.

"Hi, Scorpius." Ginny said warmly, and sat, dragging Harry onto the sofa behind her. Gratefully, Lily pulled Scorpius into the opposite sofa.

"It's nice to meet you again." Scorpius nodded, then swallowed.

"So...where are you two planning to go tonight?" Harry asked. Scorpius shifted uncomfortably.

"Ah, we were just going to go to this muggle place." Scorpius said finally. "Restaurant, I mean. Um...we won't be back late or anything."

"Good. That's good, since Lily's only fifteen." Harry said pointedly. Ginny elbowed him in the ribs.

"Dad! He knows how old I am for goodness' sake!" Lily said loudly.

"I, um, I'll have her back early." Scorpius said, simply because he could think of nothing else. "We'll only be a couple of hours..." He cleared his throat, and prayed for someone else to speak. When no one did, he felt the rambling start.

"I do know how old she is. Lily, I mean." He continued. Some part of his mind cried, horrified, stop talking NOW!

But he could never stop the nervous rambling.

"And I know I'm older. I realise that might be hard for you, make you worry and stuff. But she'll perfectly safe with me, honestly. And it's only two years – less, I think, is you add the months up – I'm not sure, I haven't worked it out but I can, now, if you give me a minute -"

"Scorpius." Lily said, her voice both firm and amused.

Scorpius' voice died out and his face turned faintly pink. It was a battle to stop himself counting up the months between him and Lily so he could blurt them out.

"So, Scorpius." Ginny said brightly, suppressing the urge to laugh. "Last year, huh? Nervous about leaving?"

"Terrified." Scorpius nodded, forcing a smile. "Were you scared on your last year?"

Ginny's smile faded for a fraction of a second before she dragged it back on. "Actually, I never finished. I never went back after the war."

"Oh." Scorpius' colour deepened. "Of course. I don't blame you. I mean..."

"Maybe we should just go now." Lily said finally.

"Yes." Scorpius said, quickly and enthusiastically. "I mean, uh, sure...Let's do that..."

"Have fun, then." Ginny said brightly. Harry simply nodded.

"Catch you later, kid." James said, speaking for the first time, and very obviously to Lily. He shot Scorpius a warning glance – warning against what, Scorpius wasn't sure – as they left the room.

The second the front door closed behind them, Ginny burst out laughing.

"Bless the poor kid – he looked terrified. And I think you managed to humiliate Lily, too..."

"Uh-huh." Harry said, watching from the window as they walked down the path.

"But he did seem like a nice enough boy, didn't he?"

"Always seemed nice enough." James muttered. "Then he goes after your little sister."

Couldn't deny, though, that Scorpius had seemed terrified, and that he hadn't, at least, stared at Lily, or even touched her too much. That could only be good.

"James." Ginny rolled her eyes. With a shrug, James rose, and left for his bedroom.

"It was cute the way he started rambling like that." When Harry didn't respond, she jabbed him in the ribs. "Well? What did you think?"

Harry turned back to her. "I think he was appropriately petrified of me, polite enough, and he seems crazy about her."

"He does, doesn't he?"

"But I'll reserve judgement for now."

-----------

"You looked so scared. But I think they liked you."

"Nah. They've decided to give me a chance, for you." Scorpius shrugged. It was over, he thought, breathing in the cool air. Thankfully, it was over. "'Cept James, who'd already decided that, but is definitely not happy with me, and is patiently waiting for any excuse to curse me."

"Maybe. Well, ah, what did you think of them? My parents?"

He glanced down at her, half confused. "What did I think of them? Does that matter?"

"Of course it matters. I want them to like you, and I want you to like them. So, what did you think?"

"Oh. Um, well, I appreciated them not cursing me. Or laughing at me. Um...Lily, I wasn't concentrating on my opinion of them, I was too busy worrying about what they thought."

"Oh. OK, well, next time form an opinion, OK?"

"Next time?"

She only laughed.

--------

A couple of hours later, she walked through the door, and stood in the doorway, watching him exit the garden before disapparating. She closed the door quietly, turned, and jolted violently.

"Jeez, mum. Why are you hiding in the hallway?"

Ginny smiled. "I didn't come into the hallway until I heard the door open. Guess you were too busy watching your boyfriend to hear me. So, what did he get you?"

Lily fidgeted. "Um..." She hesitated, then held out a hand. A tiny model tiger was curled in it, and it stretched as Ginny watched. "I, uh, said a little while ago they were my favourite animal. He remembered."

She flushed a little, and Ginny gently reached out, pushing a strand of Lily's hair back from her face. "It's a very thoughtful gift. Honey, just remember, you haven't been with him for very long. I know you've known each other for a while, but...just be careful, OK? I don't want you to get hurt."

"I know. I..." Lily paused, tilted her head. "I'm not, like, in love with him or anything, Mum. I just...like him a lot. He's a great guy. And we get on really well. I'm too young to be in love."

Ginny smiled, nodded. "I know. Good night."

"Night." Lily replied, and climbed the stairs. Alone in the hallway, Ginny sighed.

At fifteen, she'd liked a guy a lot, believed him a great guy, and got on well with him. She'd been too young to be in love, too.

"And look how that ended up." Ginny murmured, twisting her wedding ring and worrying.


	10. Chapter 10

**I suppose it's more of a filler than anything else, and not my best work, but they'll be lots of time skips now, and I think it's better to put a chapter here than to skip straight to the end of the year, which might be where chapter after next starts. Not sure yet, I haven't written it. **

**And thanks, a lot, for all the reviews.**

The days slipped by quickly, so that, all too soon, Christmas was forgotten, and they were back at Hogwarts. The weather became erratic, mixing in almost warm days with days that were biting cold, and throwing a week of snow in, too. January passed without event; February soon followed. Hogwarts' students finally got over the idea of Scorpius and Lily as a couple, and some took bets on how long it would last, while others moved on to the next teenage scandal. March arrived, and brought more snow with it.

_March 28__th__, 2023_

On the morning of her birthday, she woke early. It was a Friday; she'd have to attend lessons, which had been a disappointment. But she was now officially sixteen.

Lily took a moment to think about that. Sixteen years old. Checking her watch, she smiled. Sixteen years and three hours. She didn't feel any different for it, but had been in the world for sixteen years and three hours.

It was half past five when she climbed out of bed, and looked out of the window, smiling instantly. Everything was white; inches of snow had settled over everything.

She sighed a little, and leaned on the sill. It was going to be one of those days, when she was in a pathetically happy mood. After, she'd be embarrassed that a little snow – and her birthday – had pleased her so much, but there was no helping it now. Turning back to her bed, she saw the presents stacked at the end. It took her a few trips to pile them all onto the bed, but she wanted privacy when opening them.

The family had sent her some decent stuff; after unwrapping each object and observing it from every angle, Lily found a place for it, either on display or safely in her trunk. Her parents had sent her a broomstick; one she knew had only become available the week before. Mouth open, eyes wide, she studied that for several minutes, amazed. There was nothing wrong with her old broom, of course, but this...well, this one was perfect.

After a long while, she carefully stowed that in her trunk, promising herself she'd try it out later. Turning back, she unwrapped a present from James, smiling at the message in the card, then one from Louis.

Then she picked up the smallest box. The little label on it said only "Happy Birthday" but she recognised Scorpius' handwriting.

"Why not just give me it when you see me?" She murmured, rolling her eyes as she pulled away the paper. It was tradition for the family to make sure presents were there first thing in the morning, but he needn't have done the same.

Opening the plain little box, she caught herself holding her breath, and rolled her eyes at herself.

It was a necklace, the chain thin and gold. The pendent was simple; a tear shaped pale blue crystal, about the size of her thumbnail. Aquamarine, she realised after a moment. Her birthstone. It made her smile, for reasons she didn't bother to search for. Without hesitation, she fastened it around her neck.

---------

"Hey, little sister!" Albus called, the second she appeared in the common room. Smiling, Lily crossed the room to him, and accepted the hug. "Happy birthday."

"Thanks. And for the present, too." Lily replied, a second before the family fell on her. Lucy and Roxy grabbed her, hugging her together until she couldn't breathe; then Rose caught hold of her, saying happy birthday twice before letting Hugo squash her. Ally hugged her; and then Lydia bounded over, wrapping her thin arms around her and spinning.

Lily didn't bother to ask how Lydia, and the Scamander twins, all Ravenclaws, were in the Gryffindor common room. It was hardly the first time. Lorcan hugged her next; and, after the briefest hesitation that no one noticed, Lysander hugged her, too.

A lot of people were staring; but most of the older students had quickly lost interest, far too used to the loud Weasley family, who made a big deal over things that they really shouldn't.

After several minutes of loud talking – mostly involving Lily being questioned on her presents and whether she liked them – Lily managed to get close enough to Rose to whisper to her. "Scorpius?"

"I tried to get him to come up here, but he, ah, didn't think he'd be welcome." Rose told her apologetically. Lily's smile faltered, then came back.

"Right. Paranoid little princess." It was said with much affection, but she was slightly disappointed.

"He's probably right, Lily. The other students..." Rose looked around, and didn't finish her sentence. Lily nodded. "He'll be at breakfast, though. We can go down now?"

"Yeah. Yeah, definitely."

It was several more minutes, though, before the Weasleys piled out of the portrait hole, and down the stairs. Scorpius was waiting outside the Great Hall. Ignoring the comments or smirks of her cousins, Lily crossed the space to him.

"You should have come upstairs." She told him. "I'd've liked you to be there."

He shrugged uncomfortably, and then she kissed him, not caring that several members of her family were watching. "Happy birthday." He murmured when they broke apart.

----------

It wasn't until several hours later, when she finally went to bed, that Lily started to think. March was almost over. April would pass by quickly, what with the Easter holidays. May would be filled with revision; she remembered with a twist of her stomach that it was her O. this year. And then the beginning of June would be exams; and then nothing. Term would be over, they'd all go home, and when she returned, in September, it would be without Albus, Rose, Allison – and Scorpius.

Rolling onto her side, Lily considered that. What exactly would they do? Would they try a long-distance thing? Or would it be simpler, cleaner, even, to just end things?

It was almost twenty minutes, of thinking in circles, that Lily gave up, telling herself not to think about it. After all, they might break up for other reasons before the end of the year.

For some reason, that didn't make her feel any better.

----------

_March 30__th__, 2023_

The snow was melting. This disappointed Lily, though she knew that, really, she shouldn't expect snow in March anyway. But it was melting, and no more was falling to take its place. In the grounds, she walked slowly, hand-in-hand with Scorpius, around the lake, which was no longer frozen solid, though she thought the temperature would probably be cold to the point of pain.

"Lily, remember how we talked about you meeting my parents?" He spoke suddenly, and had evidently rehearsed the words. "Since I met yours."

"Um, yeah." The idea terrified her, and she'd managed to avoid talking about it. "I remember. Hey, do you think the giant squid gets cold in there?"

"I don't know. My parents are having a, a kind of party, during the holidays. Just a few people, really." He said it carefully, and she knew, instantly what he was going to ask.

"That's nice. What about mermaids, do they get cold?" A faint edge of panic touched her voice. "Do you think they have to stay inside, instead of swimming about in the water? Actually, there'd be water in their houses, wouldn't there -"

"Lily. I'd like you to come to the party."

She blew out a breath. "I knew you were gonna say that."

"Yeah, I know." She'd hardly hidden it, with her desperate attempts to change the subject. "Well, what do you think? You wouldn't have to stay for long, if you didn't want to, and I know that Andromeda and Teddy and Victoire are invited."

"She's pregnant, did I tell you? Victoire -"

"Yes, you told me three weeks ago, Lily, when you found out. Are you really that scared of meeting them?"

She stopped walking, and turned to face him. "I'm not scared." After a brief moment, she continued. "OK, yeah, I am. And it's not like I'd be just picking you up, like with mine, is it? You're asking me to attend a party, with your parents and grandparents and their friends. That is much, much worse."

"I know. But it's also a lot simpler and less awkward than you meeting my parents alone, and then my grandparents -"

"_Grandparents_? Lucius Malfoy would happily poison me!" She was only half joking.

"So don't drink anything. Lily, come on. It's not a big deal unless you make it one."

"You can talk. Biggest drama queen I've ever met. OK, yeah, sure, maybe I'm making a big deal out of nothing." She paused, bit her lip, and then finally met his eyes. "What if they don't like me?"

He half smiled. "You don't need to worry about that. My dad's determined not to think about you, or us being together, at all, so he won't form an opinion. My mum's already decided she likes you, because I do. And Lucius has already decided he doesn't like you, so you're OK there."

"And Narcissa?" Lily asked.

"She's the only one you need to worry about." He shrugged. "But she's pretty much with my mum on this. Just come with Teddy, and stay for an hour, maybe two. If you want to leave before that, then go. Hell, I'll take you home myself."

She hesitated, debating with herself. "OK. Sure. Fine."

He smiled. "Awesome. I won't let them hurt you, promise." He smirked as she tried to decide if he was joking or not. "Kidding." He assured her, correctly reading her expression. "Hey, do you realise that we've been together four months now?"

"Yeah. You told me last week it would be." She replied, but smiled in spite of herself. "Who'd've thought it, huh? Most of the school was convinced it'd only last a few weeks. So was I, actually."

He laughed at that, and they started walking again. "Yeah. Apparently I can't get rid of you that easily." Her arm flicked round, striking him lightly on the chest.

"Yeah, like this is all down to me." She replied. "Couldn't get rid of you if I tried."

He only smiled.

Four months was longer than either had expected to be together. And long enough that both knew that they wouldn't split over something silly, a little argument, or their perceived family pressure. They'd experienced those, and stayed together.

And still, there in the back of Lily's head, was the little worry about how much longer they had.


	11. Chapter 11

**No idea when Easter will be in 2023, so random date, though this is just in the holidays, not the actual Easter Sunday. This was originally a Jigsaw Piece, too, but reworked to fit here. A little over dramatic, I think, but just go with it. And big, big thanks to everyone who reviewed. **

_April 15__th__ 2023_

He was talking to himself again.

"We can manage this. We can get through this. Everything will be fine, nothing bad will happen."

It seemed unfair, really, that he was here again, talking to himself and drowning in nerves. Surely it should be Lily doing it this time round?

"They'll be no drama, no big scene...nothing bad will happen..." He told himself solemnly.

"Scorpius?"

He felt the blood rush to his face as his father's voice interrupted his mutterings; turning to the doorway, Scorpius wished he'd closed the door.

"Um, hi, yeah, what's up?" He said it quickly, almost defensively, mortified at being caught talking to himself.

"Is everything OK?" Draco asked carefully. He hadn't made out exactly what Scorpius had been saying, but he'd definitely heard him speaking.

"God I hope so." Scorpius murmured. "I, ah, yeah. Everything's fine." The "hopefully" was silent, but no less on the end of the sentence.

"Right. Well, your mother said they'll be here soon, and you ought to be in the library to meet them."

"Oh. Yeah. OK."

"You're really nervous about tonight, aren't you?" Draco asked, his amusement carefully hidden. Scorpius was usually so careful about his emotions, at home at least, keeping a calm, even bored, exterior.

"Are you joking? I'm terrified. I really want this to go well, dad. Promise me you won't..."

"Won't what?" Draco asked, his eyebrows raised.

"You know what I mean. I know she's the daughter of your old enemy, but -"

"I'm not a schoolboy anymore. I promise I won't..." Draco trailed his sentence off the same way Scorpius had done. "You like this one, don't you?" He wouldn't, no matter what, think of her as Potter's daughter. For his son's sake, he'd think of her as just a girl, any random girl.

"I really do. So I'd appreciate it if you didn't drive her away."

Draco half-laughed, though he knew his son wasn't joking. "I won't, I promise. Come on, hurry up." With that, he left the room.

And on the stairs he toyed with his sleeves uncomfortably. Of course the boy would fall for Potter's daughter. Of _course._

-----------

She'd never been this nervous. Not when she first started Hogwarts, not before any of her exams (though it was O. W. Ls this year, so that might change) not the first time she'd done magic during the holidays, not any other time she could think of.

She was fussing with her hair – and she never normally bothered with it this much – when Teddy knocked on her open bedroom door.

"Hey, Titch. You nearly done with the girl stuff?" He asked, his tone carefully light, despite his worry. Lily was, always had been, the closest thing he'd had to a little sister. And he could see how scared she was, and knew how important tonight was to her. Though, to be fair, if Lucius Malfoy made any comment that upset her, Teddy would curse him without thought.

Lily looked at Teddy, and a sudden thought occurred to her. She didn't _have _to go. And Teddy would bail her out, of course he would, it was Teddy. Teddy, who, when she'd told him about Scorpius, had smirked and asked if she was willing to risk the wrath of Lucius Malfoy. Who had, when she'd asked him if he had any problem at all with her and Scorpius being a couple, looked at her blanking and asked, "Why would I?"

"I don't think this is a good idea." Lily said, talking a little too fast. "I don't think I should go. I'll just meet his parents some other time – next holidays...or in another few years..."

"Years, huh? He's still gonna be around in a few years?" Teddy asked, leaning against the doorjamb.

Lily cleared her throat, flushed, then a smile crept onto her face. "It's a possibility. I guess. That OK with you?"

Teddy paused and considered. Lily was one of the most important people to him in the world, but he'd known Scorpius since the younger boy had been born, after all. Did he trust him with Lily? As much as it was possible for him to trust anyone with her, yes.

"Yep." He said easily. "That's fine with me."

But he'd have to break Scorpius' legs if Lily came out of this hurt, no matter how long he'd known him, or how much genetics they shared.

"Now, it's time to leave, Titch. No excuses – come on."

----------

Victoire came out of the fire first. She stumbled, the clumsy movement contrasting with her graceful looks. It was something Scorpius had always liked about her, actually – no matter how beautiful and elegant she looked, she still tripped, stumbled, dropped things, like a normal person. No matter how intimidating her looks (when he'd first met her, he'd been unable to speak properly) it was balanced out by things like that. (And after the time he first went to see the newborn Dora, and found Victoire with her hair unwashed and pulled back, baby sick staining her t-shirt, she looked a lot less perfect and a lot more human.)

Smiling awkwardly, Scorpius caught her, steadied her.

"Hi. Uh, welcome, and stuff."

Victoire laughed. "Hi. I bet that's not how your mother taught you to greet guests, huh?"

"Guess not." He admitted. "Sorry, I'm a bit, uh, distracted." She grinned at that, and he grinned back. "Oh, and, um, congrats, about the baby."

Victoire smiled. "Thank you. Five months and counting." She repressed the urge to discuss every aspect of her third pregnancy with him, because he looked far too preoccupied to pay attention. "Lily should be out in a sec," she told him, pulling him away from the fireplace. "She's a bit nervous."

"She's not the only one." He murmured.

Lily almost fell out of the fireplace, and met his gaze with a nervous grin as she straightened herself up.

"Hi." She looked around the library with awe and intimidation. It was a huge room, crowded bookshelves covering the walls, with a massive fireplace and a large window seat.

"Hey." Scorpius replied. "You're not planning to run out on me, are you?"

"Not this second. Is anyone else here?" Lily asked, as Teddy arrived.

"The family." Scorpius said, almost smirking at the expression of absolute terror on her face. "No one else is here yet, though."

He greeted Teddy, and then Andromeda, who arrived next, before taking Lily's hand and leading everyone into the ballroom.

Ballroom, Lily thought nervously. The house had far too many rooms. There was just no need for them all. And who, in this day and age, needed a ballroom?

His parents, both sets of grandparents, aunt, uncle and cousins were all present, and all stood together. Of course. She wished they'd been later, got here when it was crowded and no one would notice her. Lily suppressed the urge to run, and let Scorpius lead her and the rest to his family. Narcissa and Andromeda exchanged greetings, and the former kissed both Teddy and Victoire on the cheek. Then she turned to Lily.

"Um, hi. Hello." Lily said, fighting a wince, uncomfortable under the cool, considering gaze of Narcissa Malfoy. Should she have been more formal?

"Nice to meet you." Narcissa replied politely, she was smiling, but the smile was lacked warmth, as did her eyes.

"This is Lily." Scorpius said unnecessarily, a hand on Lily's back. "Lily, my parents," he gestured towards Draco and Astoria. Astoria murmured a greeting and smiled – genuinely – while Draco attempted to smile, also, though it looked painful. Lily wondered vaguely if he was looking for her father in her. She resembled her mother, she knew, and wondered if he caught that. "My grandparents," he indicated both sets of grandparents, told her names that she scarcely heard. While his maternal grandparents offered polite greetings, Lucius only glared. "My Aunt Daphne, my Uncle Cameron, and my cousins, Horatio and Olivia."

They were all perfectly polite, all – with the exception of Lucius – smiling courteously. And judging, Lily knew. She could practically hear their thoughts. While she knew the Greengrass family had never been involved in the war, and she knew that Scorpius' cousins, the Slytherin twins, were in Lydia, Lorcan, and Lysander's year, and had never been any problem, she could guess at their thoughts.

Not good enough for Scorpius, a boy of name, status, wealth. Not good enough to stand in this house, and mingle with some of their society's elite. What was she, really? The daughter of a half-blood and a blood traitor, a Potter and a Weasley, of pretty much average looks and skills. They could stand here, greet a stranger with impeccable manners, amazingly polite and at ease. Whereas she had stammered through the introductions, her eyes darting nervously, blood pooling across her cheekbones.

They were all thinking she wasn't good enough. And they were right.

Even as Scorpius watched, flicking glances at her as he introduced, he saw her change. Though she managed something close to a smile, there was nothing behind it. Her eyes, her face, seemed to close, and revealed nothing. "Excuse us." He said, smiling at his family. "Let's get a drink, Lily." He kept hold of her hand as he led her across the large room. How often had they walked around holding hands, she wondered? And why did she suddenly want him to let go of her?

She thought, vaguely, of his warning all those weeks ago, when she'd suggested Lucius would poison her. _So don't drink anything._ She wouldn't drink, or eat. She wouldn't stay, because she didn't belong here. "What's wrong?" He murmured when they reached the drinks table.

"Nothing." She murmured. She looked up at him, into his eyes. He looked so concerned. Concerned about her, she knew, and she knew that he cared too much. They both did. That's where they'd gone wrong, she realised. They should have kept a distance, should have kept things light and simple and easy. They should never have cared, never have let it matter. "I have to go. I shouldn't be here. What were we thinking?" She moved past him, out of a set of open glass doors, into the blissfully cold, fresh air, onto a small, neat patio. She braced her hands on the back of a chair, breathed deeply.

"Lily, wait." His voice was quiet, despite the urgency in his words, as he followed her out of the doors. Can't make a scene, she thought absently. Not in front of all those important people. "What are you doing?" He asked, when he reached her, and stood in front of the chair she was leaning on. She looked past him, staring across the grounds.

"I'm sorry. This is going to hurt, Scorpius, both of us, because we made a mistake here." She said it softly, and met his gaze. "You were right. All those months ago, when you said we didn't belong together. We don't fit into each others' worlds. We don't match. I think I must've figured it out a little while ago, without realising, because I've been waiting for weeks for this to fall apart, for us to call time on this. I don't want to, and that's the problem. We let ourselves care too much, and we never should have even _started_ this."

"Lily, stop it." He snapped it, because her words were worrying him. "Is this about my family? Lucius? For God's sake, Lily, you were the one who said none of that mattered. _I_ was wrong, _you_ were right. We work, we work well together, and yes, yes we care about each other, but that's not a _bad_ thing -"

"We don't fit in each other's worlds, though." The bitter trace to her voice worried him. "Look around you. You have this enormous, amazing house. With a _ballroom_ for fuck's sake. You have, despite it all, money and status. The purest blood line in the wizarding world -" She added sarcastically.

"You think that matters?" He grabbed her arm, hard enough to hurt, but she scarcely noticed. "You think I care how pure my blood is, or yours? How can you say that to me?"

"You might not care, but they do. Those in there. Your grandparents...My grandmother, my dad's mum, she was muggle-born. And it matters to them. That matters, and so does the Weasley in me. Blood traitors, remember? It was all over their faces. I'll never be good enough for you." She wrenched her arm away, spun, took several steps away from him. "My family has money. My mother, they hardly had anything when she was a kid, and she'll never forget that. Never forget your roots, she once said to me. No matter how far you go, never forget. We have money now. We have a decent house. We even have status." Another laugh. "Fame and fortune, you might say. But I'll never be like you, with the old name, the old money, the pristine blood-line -"

"Blood means _nothing_ – you know that -"

"Not to me, not to you, not to most people." She turned to face him. "But to some...to them...I'll never fit in there, with the extravagant parties and – and all of that. I don't _belong_, Scorpius. We don't belong. Five minutes with your family and I can't even breathe. If I hadn't have walked they'd have probably thrown me out."

"That's not true! Damn it, you know it's not true. I get that you were uncomfortable in there, that you felt awkward. I get that you don't feel as though you fit – half the time I feel the same way. But you can_not_ run out on me, on us, because of that. You are _not_ that person."

"I'll never be good enough." She said it simply, wishing he'd just let it go, let her go, because it hurt her to be saying these things, to be hurting him.

"You already are!" His words were angry but sincere, and for a moment her resolve weakened. Three simple words, but he believed them, and when he said them, she almost did herself. But she shook her head.

"This has to stop, now, don't you see? Before it matters _too_ much. It's not going to last, and if we let it go on much longer, it'll hurt too much. We'll have to stop this, now."

"Stop saying that. You don't know where this is going, and yes, it'll probably hurt, in the end. But that's a risk you take when you're with anyone, Lily, it's a risk you take when you do anything. You're being – you're not being fair, Lily, to yourself, to me, to them." He closed the distance between them, and she was shaking, just a little, when he put his hands on her arms. "I'm not going to let you bail on me, on us, because you're scared of my family. I was scared of yours, too. And if I, the Slytherin, can cope with it, then you, the Gryffindor, must be able to, too."

"It's not that simple. Don't – don't simplify my feelings like that." She replied quietly. "Yes, I'm scared of them. But I'm more scared that you're going to turn around, see me in there with them and realise that I'm not good enough -"

"Stop saying that!"

"That I don't fit with them, with you. I'm scared you'll see that, and you'll end it."

"So you're ending it first?" He said, disgusted. "What is this, a pride thing?"

"No. No, I don't care _who_ ends it. It matters, you matter, too much, and if I let you matter anymore, then I...It'll hurt too much when it's over. I don't want to go through that, I don't want you to go through that."

"So you're scared of getting hurt? That's it? It's not them who scare you, it's me, and you, and...and you're scared, what, that you'll love me and I'll break your heart? For God's sake Lily! You can't run away from me every time you get scared, or doubt yourself. You don't know how much I'll matter to you, or you to me. You can't do something you don't even want to, just because of something that _might_ happen."

"I have to -"

"No. I know you think you're protecting yourself, and me, but you're not. You're running. You want to end it, Lily, you go ahead, that's your choice. But you remember what you said, when we first got together? About how we had one shot, and that was it? None of that on-again off-again stuff. This is _it_. You end it now, it's over." He dropped his arms; the part of her skin he'd been touching felt, suddenly, far too cold to her. "If I matter, we matter, you won't end it. So you decide, now, if I'm worth anything to you – if...whatever it is between us is enough to make you walk back into that room. You let me know when you figure out where we stand."

He turned, and walked back into the ballroom, back into the party. She stood where she was, her breathing rough and uneven. He'd walked away, and she knew that was the smart thing. He'd walked away, and so would she, and they'd, eventually, get over this whole stupid mess. She had to get out of here, had to get home. She wanted, suddenly, her mother. Wanted to cry and explain and have Ginny tell her that she'd done the right thing. A breath caught, hitched, in her throat.

"Try counting." The voice made her head snap up so fast she went dizzy. Scorpius' mother was stepping through the doors. Lily flushed. "Breathe in, count to three, breathe out." Astoria instructed. Lily nodded, dragged in a breath, counted, and let it out, then did it again. "You hurt him." Astoria said quietly.

"I know. I didn't mean to, but I hurt us both." Lily murmured. "How much did you hear?"

"Most of it, I think." Astoria replied. "You were unfair, to yourself and to us." Yet there was no judgement in her voice.

"Maybe." She shook her head. "Maybe not. I was right about some of it. I don't belong in there. I can't fit in to this sort of stuff, can't be all gracious and – and upper class – I'll never be the sort of person he can take to these things, the sort of person he needs. And I shouldn't, shouldn't even be thinking about that, about long-term stuff. This was never supposed to be a long-term thing, anyway. But either way, it's better that we know that now, rather than...when things are too...Why let it get too serious, let it all matter too much, when it's going to have to end?"

"I understand you don't want to get hurt. And you probably don't fit into this sort of thing." Astoria nodded. "Neither does he."

"He's grown up with all this, been trained how to behave and talk and _stand_, so that everyone sees him as perfect and...No offence."

"But he doesn't fit. He hides it well enough, mostly. But there's the same awkwardness there that I always had. He hates this sort of thing, avoids them as much as he can."

"Always be a part of his life, though." Lily shrugged. Damn it, she was right, why was it such a big deal?

"And you can't accept that?" Astoria asked carefully. "This is one small part of his life, this one small thing you'd have to do occasionally. There's no law that you'd even have to attend them, no guarantee that he even would. This is a tiny part of the whole – you can't accept it?"

"I..." That wasn't it, really, though, was it? At the centre of it all, she could accept it, she just wasn't sure if he could accept her. At the core, she was scared, because he already mattered too much.

"I understand that you're scared. And you are so young. Maybe I should tell you to cut your losses, to leave, before you do get too involved. But that's not what he wants, and that won't make him happy. You do. And I like you, Lily. From everything he's told me about you, from the way you faced everyone tonight, and for the way you assumed that you'd have to go, rather than making him alter his life. It doesn't matter what I think of you, of course. Or what Draco or Lucius think. Or Narcissa, though she doesn't dislike you. She's very protective of Scorpius, and she's waiting to see if you're good enough for him. You might get hurt. Both of you. You'll just have to decide it it's worth the risk."

"But why? Why put us both through that?" Lily said, her voice so quiet she was nearly whispering. "I don't want to get hurt, and I don't want to hurt him."

So young, Astoria thought. Lily barely sixteen, Scorpius not even eighteen. They were too young to love, but she knew that that was where they'd end up, eventually. And she knew, that while maybe she should, she couldn't prevent that from happening.

"You're both already hurt." Astoria told her. "Lily, let me ask you something. How much does Scorpius matter to you?"

Lily blew out a breath and answered honestly. "A lot. Too much. So much it scares me."

Astoria nodded. "Then why are you out here?"

She took a moment, to think it over. She could run. She could leave and know that she'd protected them both. Or she could do what she really wanted to, and go back in there.

"Thanks." She murmured to Astoria, then walked past her, into the ballroom. She would almost certain she'd end up hurt at the end of it. And so would he. But they had people around them, didn't they, friends and family, who would pick up the pieces. She walked directly to Scorpius. It was more crowded, but these people didn't matter to her anymore.

"Hey." She said softly, and he turned to face her. He looked at her for a long moment, then nodded. Later, he decided, they'd talk, figure out exactly what was going on here. But not now, not here.

"Hi. You're freezing." He murmured, and slid his hands down her upper arms.

"Yeah. Let's get me drink, and hope it isn't poisoned."


	12. Chapter 12

**Big, big thanks to everyone who reviewed. Time skip again; this is the last day of exams.**

_25__th__ June 2023_

"I'm just, you know, staying away. Until we've both slept and relaxed and won't rip each other to pieces." Scorpius _knew_ he was perfectly justified in avoiding his girlfriend, but it was difficult to explain properly when Albus was looking at him like that. The problem, he supposed, when your best friend was your girlfriend's brother.

"Exams are now officially over. She finished her last one an hour ago. Don't you think you should go ask her how it went?" Al asked pointedly.

"No. No, I absolutely do not. I asked on Wednesday how her Charms exam went, and she bit my head off." Scorpius replied, his voice edging towards defensive.

"And she asked if you were alright Tuesday morning and _you_ bit _her_ head off." Al pointed out. "You're both as bad as each other. I guess we should have all figured out it'd be like this, since you're both irritable people." They were in the room of requirement, Scorpius sat on a sofa, Albus on a chair. Initially, Rose and Ally had been with them, too, but had left minutes before.

"I am not -!" Scorpius stopped, breathed once, and lowered his voice. "I am not an irritable person. I was simply a little stressed out – justified, I think, in the circumstances – and, yeah, probably a little over sensitive. _She_ is the irritable one."

"She had her O. W. Ls, Scorpius. She was stressed out, too." Peacemaker was not a role Albus felt suited to. And having his loyalties tested this way wasn't something he was comfortable with.

"Yeah, I noticed. I _also_ noticed her blaming me for being unprepared. You were there, you saw that one, remember? She told me to get away from her, that it was my fault she wasn't ready anyway, and if I hadn't taken up so much of her time, she'd have done more revision. How is _that_ fair?"

"I remember." Albus said wearily. He hated watching his best friend and little sister argue, hated having them both complain to him about the other, and hated having to try to avoid taking sides. "And yeah, OK, maybe she was a little wrong to throw it all on you -"

"A _little_?"

"But she was sort of right, Scorpius. You were both spending a lot of time together. How many times were you having to do homework at breakfast, because you'd been busy with Lily the night before?" He refused, point-blank refused, to wonder what they were so busy doing. "How many times was she doing the same? And I was there a few weeks ago, when she said she had to go revise and you convinced her to stay with you for another hour."

Scorpius folded his arms, looked annoyed. "That was _ages_ ago. She had loads of time left, and it's not like I forced her to stay, is it?"

"You didn't give her much choice, though, holding onto her and nagging." Al sighed. He wasn't going to talk about that particular moment anymore. It hadn't been exactly comfortable for him to watch. "Look, I'm not taking sides, OK?" He was careful not to take sides, even though they both knew that if it came down to it, and Albus absolutely had to chose, he would side with Lily. He wouldn't like doing it, and he'd avoid it for as long as possible, but that's where he'd be, in the end. "I'm just saying, I can see it from both your points of view. You've argued a lot lately, and you're both at fault. And with the exams, both of your exams, it's understandable, however annoying."

Scorpius glared a little, then looked uncomfortable. "It's just, I'm not sure what we're going to do, Al. In a few days, I'm done here. Come September, she'll be back, I won't, and I don't know if we're going to stay together or not. I guess I just wanted to, ah, spend time together while we could." His face went faintly pink. "And now I don't want to keep arguing with her."

Al rubbed a hand over his face. He was shattered, and there was a nagging dread in his stomach, that he knew wouldn't go away till he got his exam results. His N. E. W. Ts were a big deal, after all. He wanted to collapse face down on his bed and not move for several hours. "Look, you guys need to talk about this. Rose told me the other day that Lily's worrying about the exact same thing, so maybe that's part of the reason you haven't been getting along lately." When Scorpius started to speak, Al cut him off. "No. No, no, no, no, no. I refuse, OK? I will not sit here any longer and listen to you moan about her, I will not dissect every argument or _look_ with you, and I will not discuss your relationship problems anymore. You go talk to Lily, work things out with her, _right now_. And since I lost a lot of sleep this past few days, I am going to bed."

With that, Al stood, and left the room.

Scorpius groaned, threw himself sideways so that he laid, curled, on the sofa rather than sat on it, and pressed his face into a pillow.

------------

"Aw, come on, Lily." There were faint purple smudges under Lydia's eyes. They contrasted harshly with her pale skin – paler than usual due to the lack of sleep – and made Lily anxious.

"No. Lydie, you should sleep. You look awful." It was genuine concern in Lily's voice, Lydia knew, and not just a way of changing the subject. Because of that, Lydia slipped her arm around Lily's waist as they walked slowly down the corridor.

"I'm fine. Really. You know how I get about exams." Lydia placated. Lily nodded, because she'd seen it year after year. Lydia showed no signs of stress, simply revised the best she could and maintained that whatever would happen would happen. And then she'd lay awake, night after night, not worrying, but unable to sleep for more than a couple of hours, regardless. It was something that baffled, annoyed and sometimes amused Lydia. "Don't worry about me." Lydia told her, knowing she would anyway. They'd been friends for Lydia's entire lifetime, after all, were closer than sisters, and fiercely protective of each other.

"I know, I know. But exams're over now, you'll be able to sleep." Lily replied. While Lydia was nowhere near as delicate as her appearance suggested, Lily disliked seeing her this way.

"Yeah. Later. When I've fixed you and Scorpius."

"We don't need fixing. We're fine." Lily said, her voice cooler now. "Please, Lyd, just leave it. I don't much want to talk to him right now."

Lydia hesitated, then nodded. "OK. OK, I'll leave it. If you promise me you'll talk to him tomorrow. In fact, you promise you'll have talked to him by this time tomorrow."

"I promise I'll have talked to him by this time tomorrow, if you go to bed, right now." Lily replied evenly.

Lydia laughed. "Deal done. You should sleep too, you know."

"Yeah, think I will. Now, march."

Lydia laughed again, then hugged Lily tightly. "Thanks for worrying about me."

"Right back at you." Lily murmured. Letting Lydia go, she studied her for a moment. "Any deals we can make that'll make you put on weight?"

"If only." Lydia replied, rolling her eyes. It was an old joke, as Lydia's build never altered, no matter how much she ate. "I'll catch you later."

Lily nodded, watched Lydia walked down the corridor, before turning and wondering away herself. She didn't want to sleep; wasn't particularly tired. She hadn't lost much sleep, really, never one to lay awake worrying, however nervous she was. It was too early to go eat. And, after so many weeks of nothing but revision, the spare time seemed odd. After some deliberation, she headed for the Room of Requirement, figuring she'd find something to do.

She'd already stepped inside and closed the door before she saw him; he sat up quickly, ran a hand through his hair, and looked at her. For a moment, she stood, silent and awkward. They hadn't, recently, been able to stay in the same room with bickering, or arguing, and she didn't have the energy for another round. "I, ah, didn't realise anyone was in here." She said finally, and started to turn back to the door.

"Wait. Stay, Lily, we should talk."

"Scorpius, I really don't want to talk to you right now, OK? And unless you want to start screaming at each other again, you'll leave me alone."

"So this is it, huh? We're going to avoid each other for the next couple of days? The last couple of days?" He didn't want that. As much as he'd been planning to avoid her today, he realised he wanted them back to normal, for the last days they had.

"No. No, I promised Lydia I'd talk to you tomorrow. So we'll talk tomorrow."

He stood. "No. We'll talk now. I don't want to be avoiding you, I don't want to argue. In fact, I promise, if we start arguing, I'll leave the room. We need to _talk_, Lily."

She hesitated, then nodded. "OK. OK, sure. First one to start shouting has to walk." She crossed the room as he sat back down, and she sat on the other end of the sofa, curled up and facing him.

He took a moment to look at her. They wouldn't talk about how they felt about each other, not yet. They'd had a brief, awkward conversation after the Easter holidays, decided not to worry about it so much, and see how things went. So they wouldn't talk about how they felt. And, because she was only sixteen, he wouldn't tell her he loved her.

It wasn't easy keeping it to himself, of course. He'd realised it at the party, when the idea of breaking up had cut at him. When, even as he'd told her that if she didn't walk back into the ballroom, they were done, he'd known that he'd do anything to keep her around. And even after the last couple of weeks of constant arguing, he knew he still loved her. And thought he might always love her, too.

But she wasn't ready to hear it, and too young to love him back. So he'd keep it to himself, for now.

"I saw Lydia yesterday. She didn't look so great." He said finally.

"No, I know. Exams don't agree with her. I sent her to bed; she'll sleep right through till tomorrow morning, and then eat enough breakfast for three people. She'll be fine."

"But you worry anyway." He murmured. Lily half-smiled.

"Of course I worry. She's...my Lydie. I'm going to check on her later - I'll get Lorcan or Zander to let me in – and then in the morning, if she still looks bad, I'll force her up to the hospital wing. She'd do the same for me." Lily shrugged. "But you don't want to talk about Lydia, do you?"

"I wanted to know she'd be OK." He told her truthfully. He had, through spending time with Lily, spent a lot of time with Lydia, too. And it was hard not to develop a sisterly affection towards her. "But we need to talk about something else. I'm leaving Hogwarts, Lily."

"I know. Two days, and then you're finished here." Hadn't she been worrying about it? Hadn't it been in the back of her mind for ages now?

"We should talk about – about after. What we're going to do after."

She toyed with her hair. "I understand. If you want to, you know, um, finish it. I won't pretend it won't bother me, because we both know it will. But if you want to go out there, concentrate on other things, and not have a girlfriend who's still in school, who you'll only get to see in holidays, then I get it." Even if she wasn't sure how she'd adjust to that.

He nodded. "And _I_ understand if you'd rather end it, not have a boyfriend you only see in holidays. I'd get it if you'd rather see guys in your own year." Even if the idea of her with someone else stabbed at him.

They looked at each other for a long moment. "I don't want to go out there, concentrate on other things, and not have a girlfriend who's still in school, who I'll only see in holidays." He said finally. "I like my girlfriend. Doesn't matter how little I see her, I think we could make it work."

She smiled, amused. "And I wouldn't rather see guys in my own year. Apparently I like my boyfriend enough to only see him in the holidays." She paused. "So we...we're not going to break up."

"I don't want to. As long as you don't..."

"I don't. Even if you have spent the last fortnight irritating me."

"_Me_?"

"Yes, you. There were times I'd have happily killed you." Before he could reply, she continued. "Are we really going to do this? Do you think we can actually make it work? Only seeing each other in the holidays?"

"Yeah. I think we can. And I could come up here on Hogsmeade weekends. And we can write a lot. I don't want to break up, Lily."

She looked away, slightly uncomfortable. A part of her knew what he meant by that, what it was in his eyes. A part of her returned it. But she refused to think about it.

"OK. Good."

They talked about other things for an hour or so, then something occurred to her. "We've been together, what, nearly seven months now?"

"Yeah. Little under, I think."

She nodded. "Um, second week of the holidays, the whole family's getting together at the Burrow. My grandparents' place, I mean. Ah...Grandma keeps telling me she wants to meet you, and, well..."

"A family deal? Are you serious? Lily, I can't go to one of your family things."

"Why? I went along to yours, if you remember. And you know most of them, anyway. And...I'd like you to be there." To see what the family thought of him, to see what he thought of them.

"Lily..."

"Come on, just for a little while. They won't _hurt_ you."

"I'm not _scared_ of them, I just -"

"Aw, come on, don't be a baby. Just for a few hours. Free food."

He squirmed for a moment, then sighed. "OK, sure. Why the hell not?"


	13. Chapter 13

**Somewhat influenced by a one-shot I did ages ago, but it's mostly origonal. Thanks a lot to everyone who's reviewed so far.**

_July 10__th__ 2023_

He apparated a little way away from the house, thinking he'd need the walk to clear his nerves. He could see the Burrow, though, and that didn't help.

As he neared it, he wondered if Lily had warned everyone he'd be joining them. She must have done, right? She couldn't possibly expect him to just arrive, and be let in and accepted.

He stopped outside the house, looking with interest. It was, he was almost certain, slightly lop-sided, surrounded by a messy garden – he noticed a couple of gnomes watching him with interest – and he was sure he could hear chickens somewhere. He thought it was possible the whole house would collapse if not for the countless spells and charms doubtless place on it.

And yet there was something charming about it. His own home was large, immaculate and impressive, and his grandparents' residence even more so. If Lucius Malfoy were to stand here, he would probably refuse to go any closer to the building. But the house was somehow welcoming.

Lily had told him to use the back door, to just walk in, but there was no way in hell he was doing that. It was far too informal, and seemed too impolite, to him. And he sort of suspected he'd get cursed if he tried. Instead, he walked up the uneven path towards the front door. The front door needed a new coat of paint, and he guessed that was on someone's to-do list. They would, eventually, get round to it. There was a simple comfort in that, he was sure, putting something off for months and months, knowing there was always something to do if you had the spare time. He guessed, rather pleased by it, that this was the kind of house where everything had a place, but nothing was ever _in_ its place. And that wasn't a bad thing, at all.

He spent a few seconds searching for a doorbell, and concluded that there wasn't one. It seemed oddly informal to just raise his fist and knock.

"Come in!" Someone called from within the house. This was new. To be allowed, expected, to just walk in. Extremely informal. He liked it.

He walked in, almost tripped over a pair of beaten up trainers that were discarded in the middle of the floor. He nudged them to the side, deciding the family might appreciate it. Or they'd be insulted that he'd walked in and started tidying up, as though offended by a stray pair of old, scruffy trainers. Not that he was, of course. They were just kind of a death trap, laid where they were. He walked through the hallway, dodging cloaks that were scattered on the floor. For some reason, he loved that – that the owners of those cloaks, and the trainers, had just walked in and dropped their things without thought. He hesitated before walking through the door to the sitting room, and held his breath as he entered. No one looked up, no one noticed him, which he found odd, since someone had obviously heard him knock. But it gave him a moment to observe.

Roxanne, Lucy, Teddy and Victoire were on the larger sofa, Victoire's pregnancy bump much larger than he'd last seen it, and their youngest daughter, Adelaide, on Teddy's knee. Though Teddy and Victoire were deep in conversation, Adelaide was chattering to Roxy and Lucy, both of whom talked back, looking amused.

Fred, Lou, James and Mitch Longbottom were sat on the floor under the window, talking loudly, laughing, with Teddy and Victoire's eldest daughter, Dora, sat on James' knee, apparently joining in with the conversation. Dora's evident devotion to the boys around her made him smile. Hugo, Molly, and Lysander were on the other sofa, deep in conversation. Dominique was on the chair with her fiancé.

Finally, he saw Albus and Rose, stood with Lorcan and Allison near the kitchen door. He was debating whether to walk across the room – and be noticed – or not when Ally saw him. Smiling, she waved him over, and since he didn't want her to call out his name, he nodded, started to cross.

"Scorpius, hey." Teddy said as he passed, and Scorpius smiled nervously, lifted a hand in greeting. When he reached Rose, she looked relieved.

"Finally. Lily's been a nightmare."

"No she hasn't." Lorcan rolled his eyes, jabbed Rose in the ribs. "She's just been a little on edge. She wasn't sure you'd turn up."

"Oh. Well, I did. Where is she?"

"She and Lydie went to the bathroom." Albus reported. "But they're back now." He indicated; Scorpius turned, saw the two girls entering the room. Both noticed him instantly. Lily looked surprised, relieved, and pleased. Lydia, smiling brightly, waved, then grabbed Lily's hand and pulled her over.

It was a little awkward, for him, for Lily to kiss him hello in front of her family.

"Hey, Scorpius." Lydia said brightly, and hugged him, rising to her tiptoes and still much shorter than him.

"Hey, Lydia." He replied, relaxing slightly. He was used, now, to her affection. Though he'd always been slightly baffled by Lydia's overt warmth – though he'd always liked and admired it – he'd seen more of her since he'd gotten together with Lily, and was used to her, now.

"I'm glad you didn't chicken out." Lydia told him sweetly. "Now Fred owes me ten galleons."

It took him only a moment. "He bet I wouldn't show up?" He wasn't sure whether to be insulted or amused.

"Don't take it personally." Lily told him mildly. "Fred bets on anything. And he was judging you by his own standards." At Scorpius' confused look, she shrugged. "Fred considers meeting _the family_ the event that makes a relationship serious. He's never once done it. Brought a couple girls round, but never met her family. Something about how anyone and everyone is welcome round here, but a girl only wants to take you home when she wants to keep you. And Fred doesn't want to be kept."

"That...I'm not sure how much sense that makes. It seems ridiculous...but logical."

"Yep. That's Fred for you." She turned to Lydia. "Get mine from him, will you?"

"Yeah, sure. Back in a sec."

"You bet on me, too?" Scorpius asked, definitely amused now.

"Yeah, but I bet with you, not against you." She smiled, but he noticed the edge of nerves on her face. "Um, Grandma says to bring you into the kitchen when you get here. She, ah, wants to..."

He thought he might have paled slightly, but he nodded. "Of course. Lily..." He lowered his voice, even though Al, Rose, Lorcan and Ally had gone back to their conversation, and no one else was close enough to hear. "You're sure your grandparents are OK with me being here?"

"Yes. They _want_ to meet you. Listen, don't be, um, nervous, or anything. They're keeping an open mind on you." Though her voice was convincing, Lily wasn't so sure about that. So they all claimed to be waiting to meet Scorpius before they judged him, could they really?

"Right. Yeah. Sure." Scorpius found it hard to be reassured by her words when she looked so tense. Still, she offered him an encouraging smile before taking his hand and leading him into the kitchen.

This was where the adults had gathered, he realised. No matter how grown up the various Weasley grandkids were, they would always be the kids, and their parents would be the adults, and gather in the kitchen. Well, until the next generation was established beyond Teddy and Victoire's young daughters. No sooner had he realised this – and concluded that it was rather sweet, really – did he notice Molly Weasley, stood in front of the stove. And there, he thought, was the centre. The core of the family, the base. Her children, their spouses, and those she'd accepted into her family, would always be the kids to her, too, even if she did let them gather in her kitchen.

"Grandma." Lily said it quietly and still managed to cut through the chatter of the kitchen's occupants. Scorpius felt blood rise to his face as they all turned to look at him, and prayed that he wasn't blushing too deeply. Molly Weasley was the one he looked at, though, as he knew she was the one who counted. Even if everyone else in the kitchen – except for Arthur, who was obviously Molly's second-in-command – decided they disliked him, Molly would be the only one with the power to remove him from her home, and Lily's life.

He blinked when that thought hit him, and told himself he needed to stop being so dramatic.

"Hello." He said finally. "It's nice to meet you. Thank you for inviting me." It was a greeting that had been drilled into him from a young age, along with the polite tone, and smile. Even if his stomach was twisting into knots, his tone didn't betray that, because he was too well-trained. (And wasn't that, he thought, rather sad?)

"You're welcome." Molly replied, looking at him, considering. "I've heard a lot about you."

"I've been told a lot about you, too, Mrs Weasley." He replied. "Your grandchildren love and respect you a lot."

She smiled at that. No doubt, she decided, his manners were simply a reflection of his upbringing; but that, saying exactly the right thing, was a skill. "I know. And, some of them, at least, have a high opinion of you, too." She glanced at Lily as she said it, and then looked back at Scorpius. He spent a moment deciding what the look on her face meant, then guessed that it was something along the lines of, "That'll do, for now". He had no doubt that Molly would form her own opinion of him, and probably soon. But she trusted Lily, and Albus and Rose and anyone else who'd mentioned him. That gave him a head start, at least.

"You're staying to eat, then?" Ginny asked him. Her voice was friendly, rather than accusatory, which he was grateful for. He smiled appreciatively at her.

"As long as there's enough food. I wouldn't want to impose."

"There's always enough food." George replied, looking amused.

"He could do with feeding up a bit." Molly replied, then turned back to the stove. Around her, the others exchanged amused looks. Scorpius turned a little, to look at Lily, but his gaze landed on Arthur first. Mostly bald, now, his face as creased and lined as his wife's. But his eyes – the blue that he'd passed on to half of his children, half of his grandkids, that had skipped passed Ginny onto Lily – were sharp. Scorpius held his gaze, and waited.

"Lily tells me you did well in Muggle Studies?" Arthur asked, finally. Scorpius wasn't sure, but he thought he heard Lily sigh quietly in relief.

"Uh, yeah, I guess." Scorpius nodded. "I'm still waiting for my results, but, um, the professor..."

"The professor predicted an outstanding." Lily said firmly. "He's always been good at it."

No one noticed Arthur's brief glance at Neville, or Neville's quick nod.

"Lily, shout in and get them to set up the tables, please." Molly said, without turning round. Lily let go of Scorpius' hand, and left the kitchen. Left him. He half expected to be told to leave, now, before she came back. Could almost imagine the quick whisper as he was pushed towards the back door. _Leave, now. We'll make your excuses. Never see Lily again. Never contact her or this family again._

"Best move, sharpish, mate." Ron said lightly. Scorpius had a moment, to feel horror that he was actually being kicked out, and to think that those weren't exactly the words he'd envisioned, before Hannah grabbed his arm and pulled him towards her, as the kitchen door swung open and people flooded through it. The grandkids, it seemed, were all pouring out to set up the tables. Scorpius watched them all, wondering why their number appeared to have doubled, tripled, when they were pouring through the small space.

"Slightly intimidating, isn't it?" Hannah murmured. "All of them, all of use."

"I keep waiting to be thrown out." Scorpius whispered, half embarrassed. But he could tell Hannah; she was Ally's mother, he'd met her a few times, and he knew this was where all of Ally's sweetness came from. Hannah smiled at him.

"You won't be. Relax, make sure you talk to Molly, and eat as much as you can." She winked at him, and then there was finally enough room for him to take his earlier position back. Lily and Lydia came through the door, holding one of Teddy's daughters each.

"I never understand why they think it takes all of them to set up the tables, or to supervise the setting up of the tables." Lydia said lightly. She smiled at Scorpius, before handing Adelaide to Ginny. Lily set Dora on her feet, but kept hold of her hand.

"Don't go out there yet, Dora, or you'll get squished."

Dora, however, was looking at Scorpius. Then she smiled widely, held out her arms, and cried his name.

"Hey, Lupin." Scorpius said brightly, and obligingly lifted her up. "How's it going?"

He smiled and chatted with the four year old, let her tell him all about her birthday three weeks ago, her presents, and the baby her mother was going to have soon. He didn't notice the way Lily's parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles watched him, or the looks they exchanged.

"Go outside now?" Dora asked Lily eventually.

"Yeah, they're all set up. Let's get outside before we have to carry food out." Lily said, smirking, then lifted Dora easily from Scorpius' arms and slipped out of the door. Lydia grabbed Scorpius' arm and dragged him out after them.

"I should help carry food -"

"Nah, that's their job." Lydia assured him.

Harry pushed the back door closed, generating as much privacy as possible. "Well?"

"Dora likes him." Bill said. "And kids, especially little kids, are good judges of character." He resisted, barely, adding something like, "and Dora's the smartest little kid I know," even though he thought it.

"Until they grow up and society teaches them to ignore their instincts." Charlie nodded.

"Except for Lydia." Hannah smiled, a hint of pride on her face. "She's never lost that. And she likes him a lot, genuinely. So does Lily." She added, looking at Ginny.

"Yeah. All the kids seem to have accepted him years ago. Al and James trust him, well enough, and Teddy's always liked him. And we all know that if she didn't think he was good enough, Lydia would have made sure Scorpius didn't stay around Lily very long."

"Just like Lily does for her." Neville agreed proudly.

"He seems polite enough." Molly agreed, plating food now. "And he's obviously only here because Lily asked him to. He's..."

"Crazy about her." Ginny said, the faintest hint of worry in her voice. "Come on, mum, let's feed the kids before they go wild with hunger."

----------------

It was noisy, disorganised, crowded and extremely informal. Tables were loaded with plates of food, chairs were grouped around, though most people stood or sat on the grass. Most had, by now, given up on eating, and though Scorpius knew everyone had eaten their fill, there was still food left. He thought that was charming; that Molly had made far, far too much food to make sure everyone was fed, and that her family had eaten to the point of discomfort for her.

He'd attended countless parties. And this was his favourite. It was impossible not to relax, and over the last few hours, every member of Lily's family had spoken to him; some for a few minutes, some for longer, alone or in groups. Not once had anyone implied he didn't belong here, or with Lily, even if it had been obvious they were checking him out.

As the light faded, Scorpius stacked up a few plates into a neat pile on one end of a table, and decided that he was not only completely, one hundred per cent, scarily in love with Lily, but that he loved her family, too.

"Hey." She slipped an arm around his waist, smiled at him when he turned to face her. "You're still alive." There was mock surprise in her voice, and he stuck his tongue out at her.

"Looks like."

"Wasn't so bad after all, was it?" She persisted.

"No, you're right, it wasn't."

"I'm always right. Remember that."

"I will." He agreed solemnly, and flashed a smile. "But I think I should be going now."

"Yeah. I guess so. It's getting late. But you'll have to go around and say bye to everyone." She smirked at him, and he looked around the garden.

"OK. It'll take me forever, but OK."

He made the rounds, said his goodbyes, accepted the hug from Lydia, and finally let Lily pull him over to Molly and Arthur.

"Scorpius' is going now." Lily announced. Scorpius nodded.

"Unless you want me to stay and help clear up?" He said, as it occurred to him.

"No, of course not, it'll only take a few minutes." Molly told him. "You get home before it gets dark." The light was already starting to fade.

"Thanks, a lot, for having me over." He said sincerely.

"You're very welcome. Lily, run inside and get Scorpius' cloak."

"Oh. Right. Back in a sec."

"You like my granddaughter a lot, don't you?" Arthur said quietly. It was hardly a question, but Scorpius nodded.

"If I'm honest, sir, I like your whole family. But yes, Lily...Lily's very important to me." He considered, very briefly, telling them both just how important she was. But no. Lily had to be the person he told first, and until she was ready to hear it (and he was ready to say it to her) no one else could be told.

"You'll come here again." Molly said. Again, it wasn't a question, but he smiled at her.

"Anytime you invite me." He said, as Lily crossed back to him, holding his cloak.

"I'll walk you out." She told him, and he took hold of her hand as they rounded the house, started down the little path that led out of the front garden.

"So all in all, a success, I think?" She asked him. "Grandma likes you. And I think Granddad's getting there."

"They were all...really nice. Accepting. I didn't expect that. And I, I had fun, once I'd got over the awkwardness." They stopped at the gate. "I like your family." He told her simply.

She smiled, as though he'd given her the best possible compliment. "I'm your favourite, though, right?"

"Oh, of course. Well...little Dora's much, much sweeter. I'm thinking I'll give her fifteen years or so then marry her."

"I'm sure Teddy'll be thrilled." Lily replied solemnly. "I'm glad you had fun today." She told him, then smirked. "Hey, maybe next time you could bring your parents."

He looked at her for several seconds. "I hope that was a joke."

"Duh. But I think it'd be fun to see how your dad coped in there."

"Uh-huh. Fun. I'm going to go, now, before you talk me into throwing Lucius in there."

She smiled at that, even as she realised that he'd been using Lucius' name, rather than saying "grandfather" for a while now, and wondered why. "I wouldn't do that. No offence, but I don't think I'll ever want Lucius Malfoy here."

"Tell me about it." He murmured, then kissed her goodbye.

After he disapparated, she stood by the gate for a few minutes. He'd fit, she thought. Despite it all, he'd fit in there, talking about muggle appliances with her grandfather, joking with Al and James, talking to her cousins, listening to her grandmother.

"Lily?" She hadn't heard Lydia, but didn't jump at the soft sound of her voice, only turned, and started walking back towards her.

"He fit right in."

"I noticed. They like him. The family. Even the ones who don't want to, they do." Lydia studied her for a long moment.

"That scares me." Lily admitted.

"I know."


	14. Chapter 14

**I was going to just use another Jigsaw Piece for this, but then I decided to be more original. Some of the dialogue is from it, though. Again, this may be a little over-dramatic, but the idea just came to me.**

_October 1__st__, 2023_

"So, I heard you and Malfoy are still together."

At the voice, Lily rolled her eyes, then turned her head to glare at the boy beside her desk. He had been, three years ago, tall, but as his peers had caught up with him, his height had become average. He wasn't outstandingly good looking; nor did he scare small children. He'd been, and still was, the sort of boy most girls overlooked, shallowly gravitating towards his better-looking, or funnier friends.

Except Lydia. At twelve, anyway.

Lily deliberately looked away.

"Aw, come on, Potter, you can't still be mad at me over Lydia? That was _years_ ago."

His voice was irritating, Lily decided. So was his hair. And his eyes were the colour of mud. And he hadn't, didn't, deserve Lydia anyway. "I don't care how long ago it was, Mark." She used his first name, instead of the surname or nickname that most people called him by. To annoy him, however pettily. "You were still way out of line."

"She talks to me." Mark replied stubbornly. "Lydia, I mean. If she sees me around, she doesn't blank me. And I was her boyfriend, not yours."

"Yeah, you were. And then you were impossibly cruel to her. I don't care if she talks to you, if she's forgotten all the things you called her, Markie. I haven't, and I won't."

"Jeez, Lily, I was barely thirteen."

"So? She was barely twelve. You were way out of order. Now go away. Far, far away."

She didn't react as Mark glared and walked. It was petty, she knew. And it had all happened years ago, when they were practically still kids. But Lily still remembered Lydia's devastation, her whispered, _I thought we were friends, though. Before we got together, we were friends, and I thought we still were, as well as a couple._

No, she didn't care how long ago, didn't care if they'd all grown up. No one hurt someone she loved and was forgiven.

"Hey, Lily, practice tonight." Hugo slid into the seat beside her. She smiled at him, proudly.

"Aw, little Hugo the Quidditch captain. Scheduling practices and everything."

"Yeah, yeah. You're just jealous it's not you." He replied, swatting her arm. She was jealous, and she'd admit it. But she was also proud. "Anyway, six o' clock. Don't forget your awesome broomstick."

"Yeah, yeah. You're just jealous it's not yours." She retorted, smirking.

"Damn right." He shrugged easily.

------------------

She loved flying. Always had; probably always would. From the moment she'd mounted her first toy broomstick, suspended inches above the ground with her mother's arms hovering inches away from her, she'd loved it. And she'd always been determined to play Quidditch, too.

James let her be seeker. She had a vague memory, hazy in the way childhood memories are. There was a bunch of them, dividing up to play Quidditch, with apples and an orange. Why a single orange she didn't know, couldn't remember. But James had picked her for his team – because Lou, the captain of the other side wouldn't have done, her being young and short – and planned on being seeker. She couldn't remember exactly how she'd talked him into giving her the position, instead, but he had, that game and all the ones that followed.

And so, years later, James had joined the Gryffindor Quidditch team as a talented chaser, and had then gone on to make a career out of it. Or, rather, was in the process of making a career out of it. And when she'd joined the team herself, a few years after, she was the seeker. (Well, the reserve seeker, back then, since they'd already had one.)

She'd never forgot that. As Lily sped around the pitch, searching for the snitch they were training with, she thought about it, wondered what kind of player she'd be, what level of skills she'd have, if James hadn't have given in to his annoying little sister.

She saw the snitch, a tiny flash of gold, and flattened herself against the broom, shot like a bullet towards it.

Next thing she knew, she was falling, falling, and there was hardly time for her stomach to twist in fear before she hit the ground, feeling the impact of the solid earth in every part of her body. Her thoughts were, momentarily, confused, the only clear one being, "_That's gonna hurt in the morning."_

It hurt a lot now, too. She thought she must have passed out, just for a minute or two, because when she opened her eyes, it was to see several familiar faces around her, and to hear a tangle of urgent voice.

"Lily, Lily, keep your eyes open, OK, please?" Hugo's voice was insistent, and thin with fear. "Are you OK? Lily?"

She tried to form a reply, and couldn't think straight. She felt someone's icy cold hand clutch her own, didn't have to look to know it was Lydia's. She took a moment to be glad Lydia was gripping her left hand, because her right wrist was screaming.

"It's okay, honey, someone's gone for help." Lydia's voice was obviously scared, the endearment betraying her concern. "Can you tell me where it hurts? Lily?"

"Everywhere." Lily managed, before closing her eyes again, and letting the darkness take her.

--------------

"She hit the ground so hard, though." She knew that voice, Lily decided. She knew it, knew it well, but couldn't place it.

"I know, Lydie, but she wasn't that high up." Another familiar voice. "You heard Madam Promfrey. She's fixed everything."

"Except her head. There's no visible damage but what if she hit it and -"

"No brain damage, Lydie." Lily wasn't entirely sure how she'd managed to force the words out, but next second she was blinking in bright light. The hospital wing, she deduced.

"Lily! Thank God, we were so worried -"

"I wasn't." Hugo, in a chair on the opposite side of her bed to Lydia, leaned back. "Figured you were just being lazy, catching up on your sleep."

"Ha. Who can sleep with you lot? Never shut up."

"Seriously, Lily, how's your head?" Lorcan was sat on the far corner of her bed. One of the speakers from earlier, Lily realised.

"It feels like it hit the ground at high speed from ten feet in the air. Or was I lower?" The bright lights still burned her eyes a little, but Lily decided to be glad that she could see at all.

"Mmm, no, ten feet's bout right." Lysander, in a chair beside Hugo, answered her. "Did you decide jumping off your broom would save time?" He joked weakly. That was when she knew she'd worried them, and while some part of her went, _Ah, they love me_, another part was sorry for it.

"Yeah, sure. What's the damage? Or was the damage, 'cause I feel like I've been all fixed up." Except for the soreness. Every part of her seemed to ache.

"Broken wrist." Lydia told her mildly. "Sprained knee, and ankle. Not sure how you managed that one. Couple of cracked ribs."

"Ouch. That was a good fall, even for me." Lily murmured. She had, over the years, fallen over multiple times, suffered several sprains, twists, cuts and bruises. But never broken a thing. "I'm almost proud."

"Yeah. It was spectacular." Lydia replied sarcastically.

--------------

_October 2__nd __2023_

Despite everything being fixed, she was ordered to stay in the hospital wing for a few days, to rest. Which was, of course, completely unnecessary and mortifying. Not to mention boring.

She was half asleep – nothing else to do – when the doors opened. She didn't react until someone sat in a chair beside her. Then she blinked.

"Uh-huh. Either I hit my head harder than I thought, or Lydia got in touch."

"Lydia got in touch." Scorpius told her softly. "She's not sure if you'll be mad or not that I'm here, but she figured someone should tell me. Then about a minute later, Al's head was in the fire, ready to tell me all about it." He forced a smile. "You don't _look_ hurt."

"I'm not." She replied, sitting up. "I was, but I'm all fixed up. There's no reason for me to be laying around here, bored stupid."

"You said something about hitting your head?"

"Well, yeah. I might have landed on it. Well, I landed on the whole of me, I think. Lydie tell you all my little breaks and sprains?"

"Yeah. Yeah, she did." And it had terrified him, even though he'd known she would have been fixed right back up. And, even though everyone had told him she was fine, he'd had to see, to make sure. "Nice way of getting me to see you before the Hogsmeade weekend."

"Yeah. I'm a genius." She replied, then leaned back on the pillows. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too." He replied simply. She smiled at him, and he knew he had to tell her.

"How bad did Lydia make it sound?" She asked him, pushing her hair from her face.

"Actually, she was very careful to make sure I knew you were OK. And...clinical, I guess is the word, when describing what you'd done to yourself." He couldn't work out how to say it, without sounding stupid, without scaring her.

Lily frowned at him slightly. "Then why rush all the way up here if you knew I was completely OK? Well, except for the bruises that cover most of my body."

"I...Because I love you." He didn't blurt it, but said each word carefully, slowly. "Ah, as in, I'm _in_ love with you."

Her eyes widened slightly, and he saw the shock in them. And then, the fear. "No you don't." She said finally. "You're just glad I didn't die."

"Yes, I do." He said impatiently. "This isn't because you dived off a broom -"

"I _fell_. I was reaching out and the wind tipped me and I lost my balance. Or so I'm told; I don't exactly remember it." It was her usual tactic; frantic change of subject.

"Not the point right now." He replied. "If I was just _glad you didn't die_ I'd've bought you a card or something. I love you, Lily. I have done for months."

"Months?" She repeated. There was some kind of noise in her ears, like the roaring the sea makes.

"Since – since you stood at my parents' house, well, outside, and tried to break up with me. The idea of that terrified me, and I, I knew. I thought about it a lot, Lily, and tried to get around it, to convince myself I was wrong. But I'm not. I love you."

She looked at him, just stared, in silence. "You didn't think of sharing this with me before?"

"You weren't ready to hear it, Lily, and I wasn't ready to say it. Let's not waste time with you being annoyed at me, OK? I'm only allowed to stay for a little while. I just...I just wanted you to know."

She wondered vaguely why she wasn't in the middle of full scale panic attack. But she felt completely calm.

"Why – why are you telling me now?"

"Because I...forgive the morbidity, but I, I started thinking, well what if you hadn't been OK? What if you'd hadn't just got a few breaks and sprains – what if you'd've died? And you'd never have known..."

She pushed her hair back again. "There you go, with the drama queen routine." She started tugging at the quilt cover with the tips of her fingers. "I...You're not in love with me. Maybe you think you are, Scorpius, but you're not. You, you might love me, but it's different, isn't it? It's different, Scorpius." She looked at him, struggling to sort out her thoughts. "You're not _in_ love."

He couldn't be. He just wasn't allowed to be.

"You're impossible, you know that?" He said, anger edging into his voice.

"I try." She replied. Maybe an argument would be good. Maybe it would make him realise that he didn't _love_ her. Because he couldn't. That was just stupid.

"Don't try to tell me what I do or don't feel, Lily. You don't know."

"Yes, I do. You – I don't know, maybe you missed me, last couple of weeks, and read too much into that. Like I said, maybe you love me, but not – not like that, Scorpius. You're not in love. Think about it. Think it through and you'll realise it's just stupid -"

"So now I'm stupid?" He stood, sending his chair back a full foot. He was angry, angry that she wasn't listening to him, that she was all but rejecting him. "Yeah, maybe I am, because I can't, right now, think of a single reason for me to love you." He started to walk, storming angrily up and down. "You drive me crazy! You – you never admit when you're wrong, and that, I hate that. And you own like a thousand jackets and still, _still _steal mine when we're out."

"I get cold." She murmured, watching him.

"And you'll _always_ find something to complain about, you're impossible to argue fairly with, because you just don't listen to anyone else! That one, that one really gets to me. And still, still, I love you, and I guess I love all of that, too, because it's part of you! And that does, yeah, make me stupid."

"Scorpius -"

"I hate that I hardly get to see you, and that I miss you like crazy and _think_ about you far, far too much, and save all your letters – even the ones that are just a couple of lines long. Do you know what it does to a guy's ego to save letters from a girl?"

He looked so annoyed that she smiled, but she couldn't draw the breath to laugh. "And I can't wait to hear what my dad says about this! Or my grandfather! Or yours, for that matter!"

And she couldn't not believe him. A part of her had known for a while, really hadn't it?

"Well," she said, before he could start another rant, "at least your mother likes me."

He stared at her for several long seconds. "Yeah." He said finally. "She does." He crossed back over to her, pulled his chair into its original position and sat.

"You're sure about this?" She asked finally.

"Yes. I am."

"I...Scorpius, I can't say it back. I don't know if I..."

"I don't expect you to say it back. I don't mind. I just wanted you to know, OK?"

"Of course you mind. No one wants to tell someone they love them and not hear it back." She told him. "But I don't know yet."

"That's OK. Really." He paused, then dragged a hand over his face. "So, tell me how you managed to fall of this broom, then."


	15. Chapter 15

**I'm thinking we're getting near the end of this now. I've just finished writing the next chapter, and it's set right after Lily leave Hogwarts, so it's a big time skip, but there's nothing else happening between. **

**I went with the cliché, 'cause that was the mood I was in at the time of writing. Goes without saying, but thanks to everyone who reviewed.**

_15__th__ December 2023_

It had taken her four days after Scorpius' announcement to tell Lydia about it, stammering awkwardly as she did so. And it had been over a month after that before she'd finally admitted – to Lydia - that she returned the sentiment. Now, Lily sat on the train, watching the country whiz by as she travelled home.

This time last year, she thought idly, she'd been worrying about telling her parents she was seeing Scorpius. Now, she was worried about telling Scorpius she loved him.

"Don't obsess, Lily." Lydia murmured, quiet enough that no one else caught it. "What's the worst that could happen? He's going to be thrilled."

"I know. I know. It's just a – a big deal, and I don't know how to handle it. You know, if you hadn't forced me into admitting it, then I would have this problem."

Lydia laughed, and nodded. "Yep, it's all my fault. Probably all part of some horrific, but brilliant, plan I have."

"Wouldn't surprise me." Lily muttered, and turned back to the window.

It had been November, the last weekend, that Lydia had forced her into admitting it, she remembered. She'd been in Hogsmeade, had just said her goodbyes Scorpius.

"_How'd your pretend anniversary go?" Lydia asked brightly, linking her arm with Lily's as they started the hike back up to Hogwarts. She'd left them, all day, alone, then met with the couple half an hour before Scorpius left. _

"_Ah, yeah. It was nice to see him. And scary to think that in a few days we'll have been together for a year." She half laughed, in a light, happy mood. "Neither of us thought it would last out a month, never mind a year." _

"_He means a lot to you." Lydia said, nodding. "You fit together so well, Lily. You'll see him at Christmas?"_

"_Yes. Second day of the holidays, we have plans. He said I have to have the first day with my family."_

"_That's sweet." Lydia smiled._

"_I know. He is."_

_Lydia was quiet for a moment, then stopped walking, turned to face Lily, even as Lily turned in confusion. "What is it? Are you OK?"_

"_Lily, how much does he mean to you? Scorpius? Just how...how much do you care about him? For him?"_

"_Um, I...A lot."_

"_Lily. You're in love with him." Lydia's voice had been carefully toneless, even if she was, inside, doing a happy dance. She'd suspected, for a long while suspected, but it was obvious now, in Lily's voice, on her face._

"_No I don't." Panic seeped into her voice, onto her face. "Of course I don't."_

"_Why not?" Lydia smiled brightly, spun away, unable to stand still. "Come on, tell me, why don't you?"_

"_I – I'm only sixteen. No one is in love at sixteen. Not really."_

"_Loads of people are. What about your parents? Wasn't your mother only sixteen when she was in love with your father?"_

"_Well – well yeah, but things were different back then. Stop it, Lydie. I'm not in love. I can't be!" But even as she protested, it seemed to hit her. The realisation was like finding the answer to an easy sum you'd struggled with, like seeing something that you'd searched for waiting in an obvious place. Even as she realised that Lydia was right, a part of her thought of it as old news. A part of her had known for a while, even while the rest of her had rejected it._

"_Oh, God." _

"_Hey, hey, Lily, calm down." Concerned, Lydia stopped in front of her. "Don't look so scared. Seriously, Lily, he loves you, you love him. That's not a bad thing."_

"_Isn't it?" She ran a hand through her hair, suppressed the urge to sink to the floor. "This – this wasn't supposed to happen. Jeez, Lyd, I never planned to fall in love at sixteen! I'm only in my sixth year, and I hardly ever see him anyway, and love means commitment and I'm not ready to commit_ -_"_

"_Shh, shh, calm down." Lydia said, her voice gentle. "Listen to me, just listen for a minute. Whether this was supposed to happen or not, it did, OK, and getting all worked up won't change that. Nu-nu-nu, I'm not finished. Listen. No one plans to fall in love. That'd take all the fun out of it. Yeah, so you're young, and hardly seeing him sucks. But listen, love doesn't mean commitment. People fall in and out of love all the time."_

"_Should I end it? I'll stop loving him if we're not together."_

"_Don't you dare. You don't want to end it, Lily, so you can't hurt yourself, hurt him, just because you're scared. You've been in love for a while. You know you have. So remember that, OK? It didn't change anything until you realised it. And he loves you and hasn't tried to make you commit. No one's going to make you marry the guy."_

"_Marry?" Lily murmured, terrified. "Aw, jeez. What if he expects -"_

"_He's never even mentioned marriage!" Amused, Lydia gripped her upper arms and shook her lightly. "And I doubt it's the top of his to-do list right now either. It's fine, Lily. You'll have to tell him – yes, you do – but after that, you don't have to think about it, or worry about it. Just enjoy it, OK? Being in love is not a bad thing. You're both young enough that it – and don't take this the wrong way – it's not likely that you'll stay together forever and get married and everything. So just enjoy it."_

It had been a day or two before she'd stopped worrying, Lily remembered. Turning back to Lydia, she glared. "Why do I have to tell him?"

"Because it's...it's only fair, isn't it? He loves you, and it can't be easy for him to think that's one-sided. You know it's only right to tell him."

Lily sighed, and jabbed Lydia in the side. "You just wait, lady. One day, you'll be going through this exact same thing, and I will get my revenge."

"Ha. Like I'll complain as much as you when my time comes?"

"We'll see."

-------------

It was great for her to have a day with her parents and brothers, slipping back into the sibling dynamic, listening to her father mutter that he felt ancient now, with a sixteen-and-a-half year old daughter, sharing amused looks with her mother. Great to be able to stand in the kitchen, listening to her brothers bicker and snacking. Great to have her own room.

She was in her bedroom, sat on the window sill, staring out over the cliffs. She loved having her bedroom at the back of her house, with the stunning view of the cliff, stretching out to the drop, and the sea beyond it. It wasn't quiet. Though she was silent, though she had no music playing, there were sounds downstairs, from her brothers in the living room, her parents talking in the kitchen while one of them, or both of them, cooked. Far away enough that she scarcely heard it, couldn't make out real words. And close enough for her to have the comfort of knowing they were there.

No matter how many years she spent at Hogwarts, she missed home, missed her family, and it was always good to be back. She closed her eyes, leaned back, and let her head rest on the cold glass.

"Lily?" She'd left her door open, and when she opened her eyes she saw her mother stood in the doorway.

"Hey. What's up?"

"That's my line." Ginny entered the room, perched on the little sofa next to Lily's bedside table. "Something bothering you, isn't it, kid?"

"No. Maybe. A little." Lily shrugged, picked up a translucent purple glass sphere from the desk below her. "What is this?" She held the sphere up. "I've had it for as long as I can remember. What's it supposed to do?"

"Sit on your desk and look pretty." Ginny replied. "Don't change the subject."

Lily replaced the sphere, and thought, for a moment, how many times she'd been told, when she was younger, not to climb on her desk and sit on the window sill. Apparently she was now old enough to be trusted not to fall through the window.

That almost made her feel sad.

"I don't want to talk about it." She said finally.

"OK. If you're sure." Ginny replied, and leaned back. "How was school?"

"Fine. Lots of work. I like having the free periods, though." Lily picked the glass sphere up again, toyed with it.

"And Hugo, Lydia, the twins?"

"They're all fine. So's Roxy and Lucy. Haven't seen them much, but I guess they'll have more work than me, with their N. E. W. Ts at the end of the year."

"Yours next year." Ginny sighed. "And then you'll be gone. All grown up."

"Yeah. Bet you feel old." Lily replied lightly.

"Uh-huh. You grew up way too fast, kiddo." Ginny said softly, then waited. The silence lasted a minute, maybe more, before Lily broke it, as Ginny had known she would.

"When did you realise you loved Dad?"

Ginny felt her heart sink, as she caught the meaning behind the question. How did she deal with it, she wondered? She'd tried, always tried, to be a good mother, and hoped she'd succeeded. But now, she didn't know what to do.

"Ah, I don't know, exactly. When I knew they were going away, your dad and Ron and Hermione, to go after _him_ to fight him, and I knew that they might...not make it home. I thought then that I didn't know how I'd manage it if any of them died. And I thought, just my luck, he's going away on a death mission _I_ realise I love him. It just sort of hit me."

"And you were sixteen."

"Yes. Just barely. But it wasn't until after the war, Lily, that I could _love_ him. Not just from a distance, not just loving him and fearing for him while he was away, but getting to know him properly, normally, without all the fear and pressure of the war. You can't understand what it was like. If things hadn't been like that, I wouldn't have loved him then, I'm almost certain of it. If we'd have been normal, it would have taken more time, more..." Ginny broke off, shook her head. "You're in love with Scorpius."

"Yeah." Lily whispered it. "Stupid, I know."

"You're young." Ginny said gently. "You're allowed to be stupid."

Lily laughed quietly. "Right. I didn't want to, Mum. I never planned to, never even thought...OK, maybe thought about it a little bit. But not seriously. And then when I was in the hospital wing, he came to see me, and said he loved me. I think I knew, a little bit, then, that I – but it was Lydia who clicked onto it and made me realise. She says it's not a bad thing."

"It's not." Ginny murmured. It wasn't the best thing, though, she was almost sure. She'd been that age, felt that way, and not been ready for it, not really. It had all worked out for her, in the end, but Ginny knew the rarity that was. A part of her – the basic mother protecting her cub – wanted to grab her daughter and take her away, far, far away, so that Scorpius couldn't hurt her.

"But it feels like it." Lily replied.

Ginny hesitated. Her daughter, her little girl, scared and in love. Young and vulnerable. "I know. I know. It could be worse, though, right? At least he feels the same."

"Yeah, I guess."

"Try not to worry about it so much, darling." Ginny murmured. The endearment, rare from Ginny, told Lily that despite the words, the reassurance, Ginny was concerned. "Don't forget, OK, that no matter what happens, we're here."

"I know."

----------------

_17__th__ December 2023_

She was distracted. That much was obvious. Though Lily was perfectly normal with him, he could tell. So, finally, when they stopped in the little muggle cafe not far from her home, he placed a coffee in front of her, and sat.

"Are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"

She smiled a little. "Am I that transparent? First my mum, then you."

"Maybe we just know you well enough to tell. What is it?"

She hesitated, sipped her coffee, and he waited. "Remember, when you came to the hospital wing? After I fell off the broom?"

"I remember."

"And all the stuff you said, did you mean it?"

"Yes." He said firmly. He'd refrained from repeating it, not wanting to pressure her. "I did."

"Right. And you still...?"

"Yes. I still love you."

"That's good. 'Cause I, um, I feel the same." She'd meant to say the actual words, but they'd stuck in her throat.

He blinked. And then again. His eyes flickered, then he smiled. And looked, she thought, like a little boy on Christmas morning. Surely, surely no one person should have the power to make him look like that? Surely that was just unhealthy?

"That's...wow. I..."

"Yeah." She murmured, and sipped more of her coffee. Because he sensed her awkwardness, he let it go. But his eyes stayed lit, and he kept smiling.

------------

It was twilight when they stopped outside her house. He was still smiling, and it still made her nervous.

"You don't need to take me to the door." She told him, laying a hand on the gate.

"But I will anyway." He replied lightly, and nudged her forward. She rolled her eyes, but walked to the front door. "So, are you going to actually say it before I go?"

"Say what?"

He rolled his eyes, placed his hands on her shoulders. "Lily, I love you."

It took her a moment, but she understood eventually. Heat crept up her face. "I...love you too."

And it terrified her.


	16. Chapter 16

**Big time skip; we've missed the rest of Lily's sixth year, and the whole of her seventh. As I said before, we're getting near the end now – I'm thinking we'll maybe reach chapter twenty and then that's it. But don't hold me to it. Thanks a lot to everyone who reviewed.**

_July 13__th__ 2025_

Her hands were shaking as she opened the envelope. Though she knew her parents would want to be here for this, Lily was glad she was alone. She wasn't sure she could have opened the letter at all with everyone watching. At least this way, she'd have time to absorb her results, to come to terms with them, before she had to face her parents. It was difficult to be optimistic about what the envelope contained, and so Lily was almost scared to face her parents with her results, worried she'd see disappointment from them.

This was it. Her N. E. W. T results. The big ones, the important ones, the ones that showed everything she had or hadn't achieved in her seven years at Hogwarts. Her position in the Department of Magical Games and Sports was dependent on her results. If she didn't do well enough, they were unlikely to make her temporary position a permanent one. And what would she do then?

What would she do? What if she'd failed everything? Or maybe not failed – was it possible to fail absolutely everything? – but done really badly. Look at her O. W. Ls, and the P she'd got in Astronomy.

Still, the astronomy classes were at midnight. And she had, more often than not, fallen asleep in them. Maybe it wasn't such a surprise that she'd done badly there.

She was sat, cross legged, on her bed, her hair a messy tangle to her waist, her face pale and her eyes blurry, since she'd been awake a total of three minutes. But she was eternally grateful that the owl had come to her bedroom, given her privacy for this. She closed her eyes tightly, then withdrew the parchment, unfolded it.

"One," she murmured, "two, three." She opened her eyes, scanned the paper. And then again, and again, until the letters finally sunk in. She breathed out, slowly, closed her eyes for a long moment, then pushed a hand through her hair until her fingers caught in a tangle.

Nothing below an A. How had she gotten nothing lower than an A? That was the lowest grade her paper showed. And there, an O, and another, and Es, the rest were Es.

"God. I did it." She whispered, and closed her eyes again. "How the hell did I manage that?"

It took her five minutes before she could stand, and, grinning like an idiot, she made her way to the shower. She needed time, just a little time, to herself before she shared this. To have it as her news, and only hers, before it became the family's.

Almost an hour later, she entered the kitchen, her hair dry and straight, her eyes bright. It was a shame, she thought, Al and James were no longer here. James with his gorgeous house, far too big for just one person, but something he'd decided he "had to have" and Albus with his neat little flat in London that he shared with Scorpius. She'd be leaving herself, soon, probably, though the idea of moving out terrified her as much as it thrilled her.

Maybe she'd get a place with Scorpius. They hadn't talked about it much, but that was a logical step, wasn't it? They'd been together two and a half years, and she'd accepted that, accepted that he was a part of her life and she didn't want to change that, or not most of the time, anyway. Though it scared her, though a part of her still, every now and then, murmured that it was ridiculous to contemplate spending the rest of your life with someone you got together with a fifteen, it seemed almost inevitable to her.

In a good way, of course. Mostly.

She busied herself, making coffee, toast, listening to her parents' idle chatter. Then she sat at the table, started to eat. When the conversation lulled, she sipped her coffee, then spoke as casually as she could manage.

"So I got my results this morning."

The tension leapt into the air, almost visibly, and she found herself amused by her parents' carefully blank expressions. But then, her mood was light enough that she could probably find amusement in anything.

"And you've waited this long to mention it." Harry said finally, as Lily chewed more toast.

"You were talking. I didn't want to interrupt." She said placidly.

Ginny studied her for a moment. "You did good, didn't you?" She smiled slightly. "I can see it on your face." Still, there was the worry, the slight worry, that Lily hadn't got what she'd needed to, and that things would be difficult because of it.

Lily smiled, unable to help herself. "Oh, you know. Better than I expected, yeah. Ah, couple of Os, some Es, some As."

She wasn't sure how, exactly, she ended up in the air, her father's arms around her. Between them, her parents were making a lot of noise, and her mother was raining kisses on her face, her dad still hadn't put her down.

And so she laughed, blissfully.

-------------

By the time she and Scorpius left the house, hand in hand, she'd been lifted and spun by her brothers until she was dizzy, and fussed over until she started to feel slightly awkward. And it had been nice for Albus to bring Scorpius with him, too, to have him there with her.

He fit. She was used to that, now, the way he fit in her family, but she wasn't sure she'd ever stop marvelling at it. Against the odds, she'd thought a few times. He shouldn't belong there, but he did.

They ended up on a beach, wondering idly under the weak sun.

"So the job's secure now, then." Scorpius murmured, and she nodded.

"Well, they might still decide not to keep me. But I love it there. Scary, though, being all grown-up and having a job and everything. I remember being like six and running around with Hugo after the others, or talking with Lydia for hours about stupid little things that seemed important at the time."

"Kinda wish you could go back to that?" He asked. No need to rush, he told himself. It had to be carefully done, after all.

"Sometimes." She admitted. "But I suppose I'll learn to live with being an _adult._"

He laughed. "You sound so disgusting. Can't be that bad, being all grown up though, can it? Otherwise no one would bother."

"Uh-huh. Suppose so."

He stopped walking, turned to face her. Puzzled, she turned, too. "What?"

"You know I love you."

"Ah, yeah. So you tell me." Going somewhere, she thought. Not just a random declaration, but something more.

"Right. Well, you know, I was thinking, since we love each other, and we're all grown up now, ah, maybe..." He'd rehearsed it, wrote it down, changed it a thousand times. Tried to talk himself out of it just as many times too.

But it was hard to deny yourself something you really wanted, and in the end the spoilt kid he'd been, the one who was used to getting everything he wanted when he wanted, won out. Scorpius slipped a hand into his pocket and gripped the little box there.

"We've been together a while. And we're happy together, right?"

"Most of the time, yeah." She said, smiling nervously.

"Right. So, ah, I was thinking we could move in together. If you're, you know, ready for that. We could get a place together...?" He trailed off, waiting, wondering if this was the wrong tactic. Testing the waters, he supposed it would be called, and maybe some would consider it cowardly. But he didn't want to scare her, rush her, and didn't want to face rejection, either.

"Move in together." She repeated. "Me and you?"

"Yeah. I mean, maybe not right away, if you're not – if you don't want to. But, ah, you could think it over and, um..."

She was thinking, and fast. Hadn't her thoughts been along this line just a few hours ago? Hadn't she, a few times, tried to imagine them living together? (Not that anyone knew about that, of course.) And couldn't she see it? Their own place, a little flat, or they could get a beautiful house like James, decorate it all themselves. It would be theirs, and only theirs.

Was she ready for that?

"Yeah, okay." The words were out of her mouth before they'd formed in her head, but she didn't regret them. "Let's do that."

He blinked, then grinned. "Really?"

"Yeah." Nerves formed in her stomach. "There's nothing stopping us, so yeah. Let's be grown-ups." She was hoping to lighten the mood, to make less of a big deal over it all. But instead, Scorpius' eyes turned serious.

"OK, one more question." He said, and his mouth went dry. "And this is completely different, OK? I don't want you to feel like you have to go along with it – in fact, unless it's one hundred per cent what you want, you have to say no." His heart was pounding, painfully.

"Ah, sure."

"Really, if you don't want to, moving in together is – is amazing, and brilliant, and definitely enough. But, ah..." He gripped the box tightly, and drew it from his pocket, flipped it open. It took her a moment to click.

"Oh my God." She breathed it, unable to draw air. Her throat tightened, her heart sped up to match his, though neither were aware of it.

The ring was simple, a round diamond with a sapphire on either side. Nothing too complex or flashy or huge. And the nerves in her stomach increased ten-fold.

"Marry me." He murmured, watching her.

"Are you – are you serious?" She couldn't look away from the ring, the stones glinting in the light.

"Yes. Let's be really grown up, Lily, and get married."

For a moment, he wasn't sure she was breathing, and worried that he was too soon. She was still young, after all (so was he, but she was younger) and just barely out of school. He ought to have waited. Ought to have given them a year of living together, before he pushed her for more.

"Married." She said slowly, trying to decide how she felt. Shocked, of course, and terrified. But more. When he opened his mouth to speak, he shook her head. "Give me a minute. You've, ah, caught me off guard. Let me think."

She turned away from him. That had his stomach sinking, sure that she was trying, now, to find a way of letting him down gently. But he waited, while she stood, looking out over the sea.

Married. Oh, God, married. At eighteen? Marriage was – marriage was _big_. No matter how lax most people had become towards it, marrying and divorcing, often multiple times, no matter how easily a lot of people wed, with the idea of dissolving the marriage easily if things didn't work out, for Lily, marriage was a big thing. Maybe it was the way she was raised, maybe it was simply a part of her, a twist in her character, but matrimony was not something she could ever enter into lightly. It was a commitment, and Lily had always believed that if she were to take the plunge, it would be permanent.

She'd once told Lydia, in all the seriousness a twelve year old could manage, that she'd only marry someone if she knew, with her entire heart, that she loved them, that she'd always love them, and they felt the same. Only if she believed, completely, that this was the person she could spend the rest of her life with. Soulmates, if you believed in such things. She wasn't sure she believed in soulmates, fate, true love, but she refused to discount them.

So now she stared out at the sea, and considered, forcing herself to stay calm. There was a bubble of excitement – a proposal, the perfect ring, and the girliest part of her was dazzled – and also there was terror.

She closed her eyes, remembered the moment she and Lydia had talked of marriage, and everything she'd said. She knew. God, she knew she loved him, with all her heart. And when she tried to think of not loving him, she couldn't. When she tried to imagine her life without him, she couldn't.

Five years, she told herself. Picture, five years into the future. Was he there?

The breath shuddered out of her. Because he was. And when she tried to imagine further, and further still, he was there. And so she had her answer.

Her eyes flipped open, and she stared out at the sea, her eyes wide. She was going to get married. For a moment, she let that sink in, let herself come to terms with it and make sure it was exactly what she wanted, before turning back to Scorpius. He was watching her, just watching and waiting, and she had no idea what his thoughts were.

"Ask me again." She murmured. "Just, just ask me again, so I know you mean it."

"Of course I mean it." He said quietly, but nodded. He'd closed the little box while he waited, and now he held it out again, opened it. "Will you marry me, Lily?"

"Yes."

For a heartbeat, they just looked at each other. Then, with a strangled noise somewhere between a laugh and a sob, he lifted her into the air, spun her. How many times, she wondered vaguely, could she be spun around in one day? How many times could she tremble with nerves, could her heart pound and her breath hitch?

He set her down gently, his hands on her upper arms. "You're sure? You're absolutely sure?"

"Yes. Yes, I am." She felt almost like she was choking, and it took her a moment to realise that was because she was close to tears. "Scorpius - Scorpius, listen. Do you love me?"

"You know I do."

"With all you heart, forever?" She asked, not caring if it sounded stupid or girlie or childish.

"Yes."

"Do you believe you can spend the rest of your live with me? Can you see us together in the future?"

"Would I have asked if I didn't?" He asked gently.

She burst into tears without warning. Shocked at herself, she started to brush them away, tried to stop, and found she couldn't. "God. God, I'm sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me."

"It's OK." He murmured, and pulled her close. "You've had a hell of a day, haven't you?"

"Damn right." She mumbled, then pressed her face into his shoulder. "I'd still feel better if you started crying too."

He laughed a little, and then, because he wasn't sure if he could stop himself if he tried, he cried a little, too.


	17. Chapter 17

**Follows right on from last chapter, probably an hour or so after. The beginning of the next one continues right after this. A long day, apparently. Thanks a lot for the reviews, love you all. I'm pretty certain chapter 20 will be the last, and I'm planning a sort of sequel. Sequel because it fits into this world, and follows not too long after, and sort of because it centres around James and Allison. Anyway.**

_July 13__th__ 2025_

She entered the house nervously, alone. He wanted to come in with her, and it had taken her a while to talk him out of it. She told him she had to do it alone, couldn't explain why. And he'd finally accepted it.

It was partly the truth, she reasoned. But also party because she didn't know how her family would react, and she didn't want him there to see it, just in case they reacted negatively. Protecting him, she thought idly, protecting his feelings from getting hurt. He'd be mortified if he knew.

They were in the living room, her parents, her brothers. All looked over as she walked in, all smiled, still flushed with pride in her. It seemed like days ago that she'd opened her results.

_We have grown up today, _she mused. For a moment, she felt almost hysterical, and had to swallow a bubble of laughter.

"Hey." She hovered in the doorway, because from this point she could see them all, and she had to, _had to_, see them all. "I, uh, I sort of have something to tell you." _Sort of?_ She criticised herself viciously. _Where is the "sort of" in this?_

"Lily?" Her mother murmured, dragging her attention back.

"Ah, right. Yeah. Um, Scorpius asked me to move in with him." She understood, now, why he'd asked her that first. It was the easier one to say.

"And you said yes." Ginny replied, careful to keep her voice mild, even though her heart had skipped a beat. Her daughter, her youngest, leaving. All grown up and moving in with a boy. Harry had frozen, his mind not engaged enough to form real thought. James and Albus exchanged looks; James silently asking if Al had known about this, Albus denying.

"Yes. I did. We'll, um, we'll have to find a place, so I guess it'll be a while before I actually move out. Is that, um, OK?" None of them were really showing their reaction, Lily thought, almost irritated.

"Of course it is. Congratulations." Ginny rose, crossed the room and hugged her. Lily was careful to move her left hand quickly enough that she could cover it with her right as she hugged her mother. But when Ginny drew back, she saw the ring, caught Lily's hand and stared at her, her eyes wide and full of shock. Lily gave the tiniest nod.

"Minute." She murmured, almost inaudibly. "Let me say it."

Ginny's eyes filled with tears, but she nodded. Her feelings were imprecise, and she made no attempt to figure them out. Instead, she moved to stand beside her daughter, slipped and arm around her shoulders.

"There's something else." Lily said. Because she didn't know who to look at, she looked at the floor. "He, ah, asked me something else, too, something else I said yes to. We...We're..."

Ginny squeezed her shoulder gently. Later, Lily would think that if she hadn't done so, if there hadn't been clear support in the gesture, she might not have got the words out.

"We're engaged. Scorpius and I are going to get married."

She didn't see the reactions of her father, her brothers, because Ginny hugged her again, overcome. The words made it all real, more than the ring, more than the look in Lily's eyes. Finally, she released her, and Lily could look at the men.

Harry recovered first, and she'd always be grateful for it, for the way the shock disappeared from his face. "This is what you want?" He asked quietly.

"Have you ever known me to do anything other?" She murmured.

His own eyes filled with tears as he crossed to her, hugged her tightly. "You grew up on me." He said, half-accusingly. It felt like there was something in his throat, trying to choke him.

"I'm sorry." Lily murmured.

When her dad let her go, James grabbed her shoulders, looked at her for a long moment, then nodded. "OK." He said, and hugged her, tightly. Losing her, he thought, as he had when she'd first told him she was with Scorpius. His baby sister, getting married. She could so easily slip away from him, he thought. But damn if he'd let her go without a fight.

Albus said nothing, but hugged her tightly, then let her go. And she found herself crying all over again.

"Come on." Ginny murmured, grabbing her hand. "We'll go upstairs and cry in private."

With a tearful laugh, Lily nodded and let her mother lead her up the stairs.

"Did you know about this?" Harry murmured to Al, who shook his head.

"He seemed distracted lately. I guess this is why. She'll be OK with him, though, Dad. You know she will."

------------

Draco Malfoy had accepted, a long while ago, that his son was not only in a relationship with Lily Potter, but in love with her. Scorpius knew this, and knew that his father would, eventually, accept the engagement, and the marriage that would, all be and well, follow it. He also knew, however, that Draco was also waiting for Scorpius to outgrow the relationship, or for Lily to, waiting for the whole thing to be over.

For this reason, he sat looking at his mother as he prepared to tell them, knowing that she'd be happy for him. Thrilled actually. While Draco had done his best to avoid Lily, his mother had made a special effort to get to know her, and had approved. So he was smiling as he said it.

"I asked Lily to marry me today."

He got no further before his mother squealed, burst into tears, and shot out of her seat, flinging her arms around his neck. He thought, suddenly, of all the years his mother had cradled him in her arms, bigger than him, offering comfort and safety. Now, he was taller than she, his arms fitting easily around her, and he was pretty certain he could easily carry her around, as she once had him. It made him a little sad, a little sentimental.

"I hoped this would happen." Astoria sobbed, without drawing back. "Oh, I know you're only young, Scorpius, both of you, but I hoped this would happen. She's perfect for you and I love her."

He felt close to tears. There were families a hell of a lot better than his, he knew. But not for nothing would he change his mother. "I know." He mumbled, unsure if she could even hear him. "I love you, mum."

He thought she must have caught it, because she started crying harder. Finally, finally he looked at his father. Draco had stood, was watching him.

"You, ah, didn't actually tell us her reply." He said finally. Scorpius rolled his eyes – surely if Lily's answer had been no, he would have reacted differently to his mother? – but nodded.

"You're right, I didn't. She said yes."

His mother burst out with a fresh wave of tears, soaking his shoulder. Vaguely, he noted that she was crying over the opposite shoulder Lily had. Both soaked with tears, then.

"Congratulations, son." Draco said, and held out his hand. After a moment, Scorpius shook it, wondering why the gesture irritated him.

"Thanks." Scorpius replied coolly.

Draco hesitated. "You, ah, really love her, don't you?" There was faint bewilderment in his voice, resignation, and something more, that Scorpius didn't recognise as pleasure. While Draco may not have strictly approved of his son's choice (though admittedly, the girl was easier to like than he'd expected) he was happy Scorpius had found love.

"Wouldn't of proposed if I didn't, would I?" Scorpius muttered, and eased his mother away.

"Then...then I hope you'll be very happy together."

Scorpius took a moment to decide if the sentiment was genuine or not, then nodded. "Thanks, Dad."

----------------

She'd threatened Albus, guilted James, and pleaded with her parents, to ensure that no one would breathe a word of her engagement. It had to be she who announced it, she insisted, and she had to tell everyone at the same time, otherwise it wasn't fair.

So now, she sat in the kitchen of the Burrow, Scorpius beside her, waiting anxiously for the rest of the family to arrive. She wore gloves.

Lydia skipped in through the back door, her brother and sister behind her, bickering in mutters. Mitch was the only person who could get Ally to bicker. Neville and Hannah, talking in murmurs, followed. Lydia walked straight towards her, which Lily was grateful for.

"You're sure you don't mind?" She murmured to Scorpius.

"Of course not. Go on. You've just gotta wait for your Uncle Percy to get here, and then we can tell the rest of them." Scorpius muttered. Lily nodded, knowing that he meant it. He understood, and accepted, her and Lydia's closeness in a way that none of the boys Lydia had dated ever had. Was in any wonder she was crazy about him?

Lydia danced forward, hugged her tightly. "I told you you'd do great. Meltdown all for nothing." It took Lily a moment to realise she meant her exam results. The reason for the party, she reminded herself.

"I know. Lydie, come upstairs a minute, 'K? I've got to tell you something."

Lydia studied her for a moment, then her gaze flicked down to Lily's gloved hands, and she tilted her head. "Sure. C'mon then." She turned, picked her way through the crowd, offering and receiving greetings as she did so.

"Has she figured it out?" Scorpius asked incredulously.

"She just might've." Lily replied, staring after her.

"But you didn't give her a single clue. How...?"

"I told you she was creepy. Back in minute." She followed Lydia's path, caught up with her on the stairs.

"Lily -"

"Not here. I don't want anyone else to hear." Lily replied swiftly. They entered the small bathroom, and Lily was careful to close and lock the door before turning to face Lydia.

"We're engaged." She said it simply, quickly, because she couldn't hold it in any longer. There'd been no need to worry about Lydia's reaction, to consider how best to approach it. The beauty of a best friend, Lily supposed, as Lydia squealed – a sound which managed not to sound at all stupid – and grabbed Lily in a tight hug. Lily clung back, just as tight, knowing that Lydia approved completely. And also aware that if she hadn't, she'd have still understood and accepted. This was the reason they were so close, the reasons Lydia's boyfriends had, over the years, suffered through jealousy and resentment.

"Ohmigosh. Oh, Lily, that's – it's -"

"I know." Lily laughed. "God, I know." Without breaking the hug, they spun, somehow managing not to collide with anything. "I can't believe it. I can't believe how happy it makes me." When she and Lydia let go of her, both their eyes were sparkling. "Stop, you're not allowed to cry." Lily commanded.

"I'm not, I'm not. Aw, Lily."

"Please, don't, I can't handle crying again. I hardly ever cry, you know it, and so far I've had two jags today." Lily said it quietly, urgently, gripping both Lydia's hands in hers. Lydia didn't bother to reply that Lily didn't have to cry with her. They'd been friends for too long for that.

"OK, I'm OK. Wow, Lily. I'm so happy for you."

"Hold it together. Please, Lydie. I've cried all over Scorpius, I've cried with my mum. I cry again and my eyes'll swell up." That made Lydia laughed.

"'K. A minute. I know you don't want anyone downstairs to guess until you tell them. I'm OK." Lydia turned to the sink, ran the cold water. Casually, without turning back, she added, "I'll be chief bridesmaid, of course."

"Duh."

------------

Finally, they were back downstairs, the whole family present. Lily had asked her grandmother to gather everyone in one room, and though Molly had given her a long, searching look, she'd asked no questions. So the Weasleys spilled into the kitchen, squashing into corners, jumping up to sit on worktops, crowding round the table, while Lily tried to find a spot where she could see them all. She caught sight of Teddy, his youngest daughter, the now two-year-old Juno, in his arms. Beside him, Victoire cradled their youngest child and only son, Cáel, in her arms. He was young enough that his mother still bore baby weight. Teddy's other daughters were nearby, Lily noticed, and realised she ought to have told Teddy earlier, too. Wasn't he the next thing to a brother, after all?

Too late now, and she'd apologise later if need be. She sought out Hugo, where he stood with Lorcan and Zander, then reached for Scorpius' hand. The glove was back over her engagement ring, though she'd allowed Lydia a few minutes to study it from every angle.

"What's up, kid?" Fred asked, looking at her. "You pregnant?"

"She is _not_." James said, loudly and indignantly, and hit the back of Fred's head. "Tell them, Lily." She looked at Scorpius, who nodded.

"You're sure you don't want to...?" She murmured, quietly enough that no one else heard.

"They're your family." He replied simply.

She nodded. "Stay with me." It was a half joke, but she still felt reassured by his murmured, "Always."

"Scorpius and I," she said, loudly, clearly, her voice shaking only a little, "are engaged."

There was a moment, just a moment, of stunned silence. And then there was an explosion of noise, and of movement, and Scorpius tightened his grip on Lily's hand as everyone fell on them. Hugs, kisses, slaps on the back, ruffled hair, and much, much shouting. Scorpius was half surprised, half impossibly pleased, to be subjected to the same treatment as Lily. And thought he had a brief moment of panic where her hand left his – she'd been lifted into the air by Teddy and had no choice but the let him go – he found his arms full of Rose, and hugged her back.

It was chaos, noisy, messy chaos, in a way only the Weasleys could do. And, Scorpius thought, perfect.

When Molly Weasley finally made her way through the crowd, and stopped in front of Scorpius, silence fell. Mostly. Without thought, Lily moved to stand beside him, and took his hand again. Then she faced her grandmother, and waited, half nervous.

"Congratulations." Molly murmured to Lily, then looked at Scorpius. "I won't bother accepting you into the family, Scorpius, since I believe I did that a lot time ago." And she had, he thought, filling, again, with sentiment. She had ignored his background and offered him her family; nothing could ever repay that. "But it's nice to make things official, isn't it?" She flung an arm round both of their necks, strangling them in lieu of a hug. When she drew back, her eyes were full of tears.

Arthur moved forward next, and held out a hand. After a brief hesitation, Scorpius shook it. "Congratulations." Arthur said, real warmth in his voice.

"Thank you, sir." Scorpius nodded.

"Less of the sir." Arthur replied. "No place for formality in family." With a smile, he pulled Scorpius into a hug. Scorpius had only a moment to recover from the shock of that before he was released, and Arthur grabbed Lily, hugging her, too. His family, Scorpius thought, or they would be soon enough.

When Lily finally turned back to Scorpius, her eyes were dry, but barely. She smiled shakily at him, and carefully removed her gloves.

His ring sparkled in the light.


	18. Chapter 18

**So close to the end now. Definitely finishing on chapter twenty, which will be more of an epilogue thing. Thanks a lot for all the reviews.**

_July 13__th__ 2025_

"She's happy." Molly murmured, putting her hand on the small of her daughter's back. Ginny nodded, without taking her eyes off of Lily, who was sat with Teddy, bright with happiness. She'd known, of course she'd known, that her daughter was all grown up, near enough. And she'd also known that this was going to happen, sooner or later, Lily with Scorpius' ring on her finger. She just hadn't expected it quite so soon, and wasn't, not really, sure how she felt. Happy, of course, and grateful that if her little girl was marrying someone, it was Scorpius, who she thoroughly liked and approved of. But God, God this was her _daughter_.

"I know. She was scared, earlier. Not just of how everyone would react, but of the whole thing. It's a big thing, and she respects that. We had a little cry, and I tried to ease the fear." Lily didn't look scared any more, Ginny reflected, but had she really been successful in alleviating the fear? Was her daughter – her youngest, her baby - really ready to be married?

"She's a bright girl. She knows exactly what she's doing." Molly soothed.

"I know. God, Mum, I'd swear it was only yesterday she was Juno's age." She gestured absently towards Teddy's youngest daughter. "Running around after her brothers, and falling asleep in my arms. Look at her." Ginny shook her head. "I'm so proud of her." And it showed, Molly noted, in her voice, in her face. As did the fear.

"I know. You're not losing her, Ginny. Remember that. You did a good job, Ginny. They all have a solid base. They know that no matter what happens, you're there, and they have a home waiting if it's needed. You're a good mother."

"I tried. I like to think it went well enough. They're great kids, and I don't think that's entirely down to me and Harry. We were just lucky." Ginny sighed, pressed a hand to her eyes. "When do you stop worrying about them?"

"Never." Molly replied, half amused. "I'd have thought you knew that by now. The worry never stops. One day, your Lily will stand here and watch her own daughter, all grown up and blissfully happy. And you'll be at the other side of the room, watching her with love and pride and worry."

Ginny laughed a little, then turned to her mother, half smiling. "You know mum, you did a good job, too."

Molly brushed back a piece of Ginny's hair. "Lily's going to do great. So are your boys."

Ginny nodded, turned back to watch her daughter.

-----------

Scorpius was surprised when Lysander asked him to go outside for a minute, but complied. The two of them walked right to the end of the garden, Scorpius confused and wondering if he was going to get a warning. Hadn't they finished with all that a couple of years ago? Or was it going to happen all over again now they were engaged? (Engaged, even the word made him smile.)

"I need to tell you something." Lysander said. He looked defensive and nervous. "I wasn't going to, but then I figured if you're going to marry Lily, I probably should."

"Ah, right." Scorpius leaned lightly against the fence, and waited, wondering what family secrets he didn't already know.

Lysander hesitated, opened his mouth, closed it again, and finally spoke. "I have – had – a – a thing. For Lily. Um, sort of like a crush? I guess. I'm almost completely over it."

"Oh. Ah, she never mentioned it."

"She doesn't know." Lysander shrugged. "No one does. But, um, I, for a while, since I was, like, ten or something. I had this – this thing."

"Define thing." Scorpius said, his voice and face carefully blank. He wasn't entirely sure how he felt about this, or how he was supposed to.

Lysander flushed. He looked different, Scorpius noted. Younger, vulnerable. He'd always been able to tell apart the Scamander twins by their expressions; more often than not, Lorcan was smiling, or chatting, bright and open and genuine. Zander on the other hand usually had a moodier expression, a brooding one.

"Um, I thought I was maybe in love with her? I mean, obviously I love her, but I thought I might..._love_ her, you know? She's been one of my best friends since we were babies, and I, I guess I..." He trailed off uncomfortably. "I wasn't in love with her, though." He added finally. "I really thought I was, or might be, at one point, but I wasn't. I love her and I had a crush on her, and I think things just got a little confused for me there."

"You don't have to try to justify yourself to me." Scorpius told him gently. "If you _were_ in love with her, hey, I can understand. And if you weren't, I guess I can get how things might get a bit confusing. I don't know what it's like to have grown up like you have, with a big extended family, and not be blood related. But I guess it might, especially when you're younger, make things a little...blurry."

Actually, he had no idea how it would work. But he could try to understand, if only because Zander looked scared and embarrassed and defensive all at once, giving him the look of a puppy that expected to be kicked.

"Yeah. But then, you know, she got together with you. I mean, I'd never tried..._anything_, you know, because I knew she didn't...As far as she's concerned, I'm like – like another Hugo to her. Which is fine. Really. I always knew nothing was going to happen."

"Sometimes it's better to like someone when you know it's never going to happen. Takes the pressure off."

Zander nodded. "When she got together with you, I told myself I had to get over it. It's, obviously, taken me a while. I think I didn't properly start until I found out you guys were, um, in love and all. But I'm not, not completely...I still like her a little, and I figured it's only fair that I tell you, because you're marrying her."

Scorpius wasn't sure where the logic was in there, but it evidently made sense to Zander. "Well, uh, thanks, for letting me know." He paused, looked at the younger boy. "Is it...is it going to be a problem for you? Us getting married?"

"No. No, of course not. Lily's really happy." Zander nodded as he spoke.

"OK. Um, well, if it gets a little...difficult for you, and you want to talk...I can listen."

Zander nodded again, looking slightly awkward. "Um, I'd appreciate it if you didn't – didn't mention this to anyone. Including Lily."

"Of course." A long moment of awkward silence passed. "I, ah, better get back inside."

"Right. Um, congratulations, Scorpius."

"Thanks." Scorpius turned, started back towards the house.

"Scorpius? Make sure you – you look after her, OK? She's...special." Zander's voice sounded faintly embarrassed. Scorpius turned back, nodded.

"Believe me, I know. I promise no one could treat her any better than I could."

Zander watched him walk inside, and stood, alone, for a few long moments. Probably true, he mused. And most probably, he and Lily wouldn't have worked, anyway. Not as a couple. Not long-term.

But the not knowing, the wondering, the what-ifs, were hell.

---------------------

_July 14__th__ 2025_

Lucius Malfoy was not a happy man. While Narcissa looked rather pleased by their grandson's news, he was extremely annoyed. It was evident in the grim set of his mouth and the narrowing of his eyes. Scorpius was sort of amused by it.

"Scorpius, please tell me this is some kind of unfortunate joke." He said coldly. When he was a child, Scorpius remembered, he'd slightly feared this man. Feared and disliked him. He'd tried, for a little while he'd tried, to please him, in the hopes that he may be nicer, kinder, warmer, when he approved.

But Scorpius was not a child anymore, and the days were long passed when he sought approval from Lucius. "Nope, totally serious." He said easily.

"Married, Scorpius? You're going to get _married_ to the Potter girl? _Harry Potter's daughter_?"

"Yup." Scorpius replied brightly, failing to hide how much he was enjoying this. Beside her husband, Narcissa carefully controlled the smirk that wanted to break through.

"She's a Weasley, Scorpius. A Potter and a Weasley." He conveyed large amounts of disgust as he said each surname.

"I'm aware of that. Her family are very nice, actually." Scorpius said, in the same easily, slightly amused tone. It was, he'd learned, the best way to deal with his grandfather. Especially when it came to a subject they disagreed on – which Lily most definitely was. (And though he wasn't exactly aware of it, Scorpius had started referring to his grandfather as Lucius soon after he'd refused to support his relationship with Lily. Maybe some part of Scorpius had decided that if Lucius couldn't support and accept him and his decisions, he didn't deserve to be referred to as grandfather. Then again, maybe it was just some small rebellion.)

"Nice?" Oddly, Lucius' lips had gone completely white. "You _cannot_ marry her, Scorpius!"

"I can, and I am." Scorpius replied. "We're thinking in about a year. Autumn would be nice. That's when her parents got married, and it's Lily's favourite season. Early autumn, when it's still warm." Actually, they'd barely discussed it. At the party the night before, she'd half-drunkenly told him autumn was her favourite season, and she'd maybe like to get married then. But if it was what she wanted, he'd do his best to make sure it's what she got.

"It is a beautiful time." Narcissa agreed. "Autumn colours would work well, I think." She had married in winter, she remembered, with a pure-white dress and a blood-red fur shawl. She'd never enjoyed wearing fur, never liked the feel of it, or liked knowing she was walking around with a dead creature on her shoulders. But the shawl had been a girl from Lucius' mother, and Narcissa was expected to wear it. So she had.

"He is not marrying the girl!" Lucius burst out. "I never agreed with them being together in the first place, if you remember. I suppose you recall, Narcissa, the way she made him travel down to Hogsmeade to visit her after he'd left Hogwarts, and how he spent most of her school holidays with her?"

"She didn't make me." Scorpius replied, edging towards irritation now. "It was my idea. How else was I supposed to see her?"

"Or how she made a scene when he brought her to that charity event at his home? Running out like that."

"When? You mean way back when we first got together? When she was sixteen and you stood there glaring at her?" He rolled his eyes. "Oh, yes, of course. Let's forever hold _that_ against her."

"Narcissa, tell the boy what a fool he's being." Lucius ordered.

"Actually," Narcissa said regally, "I rather like the girl."

Lucius stared at her, too stunned to form words.

"And Scorpius is not a fool, Lucius. Her parentage may be...unfortunate, but if Scorpius loves her..."

She, too, had married for love, Narcissa thought. If she hadn't, she would have walked away from her husband a long time ago.

Lucius, outnumbered, sat back in his chair and sulked.


	19. Chapter 19

**Big, big thanks for reviews. This is the last proper chapter – next one is an epilogue, and quite short. Apologies for anyone who wanted to see the actual wedding, but I worried I wouldn't do it justice. This way, no one's disappointed with it.**

_September 14__th__ 2026_

It was a beautiful house. They'd found it three months into their engagement – planning only on buying one house, neither would settle for less than perfect – and moved into it a month later. It was, finally, decorated to perfection, furnished in exactly the way they wanted.

The evening before her wedding, Lily walked through the upstairs rooms, simply because it pleased her to look. Four bedrooms – too large, really, for just the two of them, but they didn't plan on it always being just the two of them, did they? – and one bathroom. Two sets of stairs – the main one that lead to the front of the house, and the metal spiral staircase that dropped into the kitchen. It wasn't huge, wasn't fancy, but was spacious and comfortable. Only the one bedroom, theirs, was fully furnished, but the others were decorated well enough, and one held a bed. They half-jokingly called it their guest room; joking because of the sparseness of it, and serious because people, such as Lydia, had slept in it.

She walked slowly down the main staircase, and stood at the bottom for a moment. The living area and hallway merged into one another, offering the space that she'd fallen in love with. The dining room was straight up, the kitchen in the other corner.

She loved every inch of the place.

She smiled slowly as Scorpius walked out of the kitchen, through the door into the living area rather than the one that led to the dining room. And when he saw her, he paused, smiled lazily.

Still loved him, Lily thought. She was nineteen now; they'd been engaged for a year. And she was still in love with him, still very ready to marry him.

"You're supposed to be on your way out now." She told him, starting slowly towards him.

"I know. I was waiting for you to come downstairs." He moved towards her. They met in the middle. "Don't get too drunk tonight, will you? I want you to turn up tomorrow, on time and not hung-over."

"I'm not even drinking." She replied solemnly. "_I_ want to turn up tomorrow on time and not hung-over. Bout you?"

"Same." He shook his head. "We're a boring couple. I could get as many free drinks as I want tonight and they'll all be non-alcoholic."

"James'll sneak an alcohol one in there, don't worry."

He laughed a little, then kissed her. They were still kissing when the front door opened, and only broke apart when Lydia told them to.

"Maybe tomorrow, when you stand in front of pretty much everyone we know and you're told to kiss, you'll want to limit it to just a little one." Rose told them. "Just a couple seconds long, you know? Since Granddad will be watching."

"Good plan." Lily commented, smiling.

Lydia danced towards Scorpius, grabbed his face, and kissed him square on the mouth. "Scorpius, I love you and all, and I'm really, really, _really_ glad you're marrying Lily tomorrow, but if you don't leave, like, right now, Rosie there will jinx you."

"This is my cue to leave, then."

"I'd definitely say so." Lydia nodded. "This house is officially a male-free zone. Shoo."

He left; the rest of them gathered. All Lily's female cousins, and a few of her friends from Hogwarts and work.

"You, missy, are going to have the best time tonight." Lydia told her. "Your last night as an un-married woman is going to be a blissfully happy one."

----------

It was. She'd let Lydia, then Rose, then Ally, talk her into a glass of champagne, the muggle celebration drink, and by the time people started leaving, she was nicely buzzed without actually being drunk.

"I still can't believe it." She murmured, moving around the living area, vanishing bottles. "Married. Me. This time tomorrow, I'll be someone's _wife._"

"But you love him." Rose said with a half sigh and a smile.

"But I do." Lily agreed. "It's not a huge deal, really, is it? It's just like making promises. I can promise to love him forever. I know I can keep it."

"You've never broke a promise." Lydia nodded.

"You shouldn't. They're important." Lily murmured, then shook her head a little. "You guys don't have to crash here, you know. I swear I'll make it to my wedding on time."

"Pff." Lydia replied. "I do too need to be here. As your maid of honour, I need to make sure you get up in the morning, and help you get ready, and take care of any last minute details, and -"

"OK, right. I get the point. You gotta stay." Lily replied, half laughing. "So long as you don't think you can kick me out of my own bed again."

"Yeah, yeah." Lydia waved her hand, collecting glasses. "It's a big bed. We can share."

"You guys don't have to stay, though." Lily said, turning to Rose and Ally, the remainders of her hen party, as Lydia took the glasses into the kitchen.

"As bridesmaids," Ally replied, "we need to be here to help Lydie with all the stuff she said."

"Yeah? Well Dora's not here and she's a bridesmaid." Deciding she was done clearing up, Lily sat on the sofa. "You're sure it's OK that Juno's not in the wedding? She could maybe have been the flower girl instead of Adelaide, and Addy could've been another bridesmaid -"

"Lily. Juno's two." Rose pointed out. "She couldn't make it all the way down the aisle without falling over or getting distracted. I'm sure she'll understand when she's older." With a smirk, Rose inclined her head, kept her tone serious. "Or hate you forever."

Lily laughed at that. "For that one, Rosie, you're getting the little sofa tonight. Ally can have the guest bed."

"S'OK, she'll let me share. And why Rosie? You lot always go back to the Rosie when you've been drinking. I don't _like_ it."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Hush women." Lily pushed her hair back. These, she decided, were the girls she was closest to in the whole entire world. "I love you guys, you know."

"Duh." Lydia replied, and flopped down next to her. "Y'know, I thought you might start crying tonight. Just a little. Out of happiness, or because things are going to change, or just because it's a little overwhelming. But you don't look anywhere close to tears."

"I'm not." Lily replied. "I thought I might, too, but no. I feel very, very happy, and very, very...ah, light, I guess is the word. Everything feels just right, you know? Like this is how it's meant to be. And, girlies, since I'm getting married tomorrow, I'm going to bed."

"'K, wait up." Lydia replied instantly.

"Apparently with Lydia." Lily nodded.

But it didn't matter that she'd drank despite planning not to, didn't matter that there were several stray bottles scattered around her house, didn't matter that she was sharing her bed tonight with Lydia, a notorious cover-stealer, and didn't matter that she was going to be a wife in less than twenty-four hours, despite not knowing exactly how to be one. Despite it all, or maybe because of it, she was blissful.

-------------------

Scorpius had allowed James to slip a few alcoholic drinks in, but was definitely the sober one when the night ended. He, Al and James went back to James' house, as planned.

"You sure you can make it upstairs alright?" Scorpius asked, as James started towards the staircase.

"Uh-huh. Done it lots of times." James replied, slurring slightly. "You get the spare bedroom, Scorpius, since you're marrying my sister in the morning. Late, late morning. Al can have the sofa."

"Thanks." Scorpius replied, amused.

"Welcome. I'm glad it's you marrying Lily y'know. Someone was bound to, no matter how I tried to stop them. So I'm glad it's you. Can trust you."

"Thanks." Scorpius replied again, serious this time. "I'm glad I'm marrying her too. She's...well, you know."

"I do. Ha, that's your line. G'night." With something close to a wave, James started up the stairs.

"I'm glad it's you marrying Lily, too." Albus told him. His voice was steady, but his eyes were blinking more often than usual, and his gaze more intent. "I couldn't think of a better brother-in-law. Now go to sleep. You got places to be in the morning."

He knew. And he couldn't wait to get there.

_September 15__th__ 2026_

She woke up on the morning of her wedding day with nerves twisting her stomach. For a moment, the briefest moment, she didn't understand why. And then it came back to her, with a nervous smile.

"Morning." Lydia said from the doorway. "Was just coming to wake you, but you're right on schedule. We've ran you a bath, and Rose's dealing with breakfast. If you can make sure you don't take longer in the bath than forty-five minutes -"

"You ran me a bath?" Lily repeated, sitting up.

"Yeah. It _is_ your wedding day. We're going to spoil you."

"That sounds...ominous."

Lydia flashed a smile, then moved into the room, crawling onto the bed. "Can you believe it? Your _wedding day_. I think one of us should cry."

"I don't wanna cry." Lily replied. "I wanna jump around the room like a nutcase."

Lydia inclined her head.

"We can do that."

--------------

Almost three hours later – after a bath that took less time than Lydia had scheduled, a breakfast that took more, and what felt like an extremely long time sitting still and letting Lydia, Rose and Ally fuss over her face and hair – Lily stood in her bedroom, surveying herself in the mirror. The dress was simple, the white contrasting with her hair, which fell long and loosely curling down her back.

"Well?" Lydia murmured.

"I...you did a great job with the make-up." Lily replied softly. "I...Aw, Lydie, I'm gonna cry."

"Nu-nu-nu-nu-nu. Don't you dare. You'll mess up the make-up I did a great job with."

She half laughed at that, and nodded. "OK, OK. Damn. OK." She turned away from the mirror, surveyed Lydia, the long column of lilac dress she was wearing. "You look fantastic."

"Lily." They both turned towards the doorway, where their grandmother stood, her eyes sparkling with tears.

"Grandma. What's wrong, what's -"

"Nothing's wrong." Molly assured her quickly. "I wanted a quick word. Everything's on schedule at your parents'."

Lily nodded once, as Lydia slipped out of the room, closing the door behind her. They were going to marry in her parents' garden, overlooking the cliffs. She couldn't think of a better place for it.

"You look beautiful." Molly said simply.

"Thanks." Lily mumbled. "What is it, Grandma?"

Molly hesitated. "I know you've worried, a little, what the family thinks of this. What your grandfather and I think of this."

"We're still young." Lily murmured. "I...I don't want you all to think I'm making a mistake, rushing into something. This is – this is for keeps. I wouldn't do it if I didn't believe, with everything I've got, that this will last."

Molly nodded. "You may be young," she told Lily quietly, "but you're not stupid. And I know you wouldn't do this if you weren't completely sure. There's nothing wrong with marrying young, as long as it's right." She smiled and toyed with her own wedding ring.

"It is right." Lily said softly. "I know it's right. I..."

"Just know." Molly nodded. "I just wanted to make absolutely sure you knew you have the family's blessing."

Lily nodded. "You have to stop now. Really. Lydia'll kill me if I start crying."

Molly laughed. "OK. I'll get back, then, and see you soon."

-----------

He was nervous. Sure he was nervous, and he wouldn't feel guilty about it. It was a big deal, a big event, and it was only right to feel nervous. But he didn't think, not for a instant, that he was making a mistake.

He caught his mother's eye in the crowd, smiled at her, and filled with love at the tears in her eyes. His father smiled at him too, as did his grandparents, with the exception of Lucius, who looked both disapproving and uncomfortable. Not going to win that one, Scorpius thought, and felt a brief moment of regret that his grandfather wouldn't accept Lily. This was always going to be between them; he was always going to side with Lily. He cast his gaze over the Weasleys, receiving smiles and little waves. Molly was already crying, and Ginny met his eyes, smiled reassuringly. James offered him a grin, which Scorpius returned, missing the slight sorrow and worry in James' eyes.

Lily waited in the kitchen, the back door open. She could see the crowd at the bottom of the garden, the guests all seated and waiting. Hagrid stood out in the crowd, and it made her smile to see him. She could see Scorpius, stood nervously, Albus, his best man, beside him. And she could see the family, taking up the front rows. She also saw Scorpius' family, but refused to wonder what they thought of it all.

"You ready?" Harry asked quietly. Lily nodded, slightly apprehensive.

"As I'll ever be."

Harry gave her one last, long look, before starting towards the door. And Lily went with him to make her promises.


	20. Chapter 20

**Massive thanks and love to everyone who reviewed this, they all mean a lot. I loved writing this, so the characters will definitely be appearing in future stories. I'm thinking of giving Lydia her own story at some point, too. Suggestions for a pairing there would be appreciated; I'm thinking maybe Lysander or Hugo? First, I've got an Ally/James story, that'll probably be up soon, if anyone's interested. Anyway, back to this.**

Epilogue

They waited, side by side in their chairs. Their hands were clutched; in between their fingers, Lily could see the gold and sparkle of her engagement and wedding rings. They'd graced her finger for a few years, now, and she didn't regret them. Was sure she never would.

It hadn't been a mistake. Oh, there'd been times when she'd wondered, of course. When they'd argued, when she felt the pressure of making a marriage work was just too much to deal with. And, lately, when she'd wondered if he'd really want her forever.

But overall, she was happy. And really, she knew that it was right.

Neither spoke. The silence seemed unbearable somehow, though, as though it was trying to suffocate them. And it was taking such a long time for the healer to return.

"If it's not – not what we think," Lily murmured finally, unable to say the actual word, "it's OK. We'll keep trying. Eventually...and if not, we can -"

"I know." He said softly. "Really, I know. I'm not – it's just hard to wait."

She half smiled. "I know." And they were so, so sure this time. She _felt_ different. But, then again, hadn't they been sure last time, and the time before?

Finally, the healer came back into the little room. She was a short women, with brown hair tied back and a half smile on her face. The half smile caused Lily a flash of hope, which she quickly suppressed. She knew, by the way his hand tightened on hers, that Scorpius experienced the same thing.

"We've got all the results back." The healer told them. "And I'm really happy to tell you that you're pregnant."

Lily burst into tears. She couldn't help it. They'd been trying for almost a year, suffered through several false alarms. And finally...

"You're sure?" Scorpius choked out. "Absolutely, one hundred per cent -"

"Yes." The healer replied, and nodded for emphasis. "You're going to be a father, Mr. Malfoy."

And he burst into tears, too. The healer watched as they clung to each other, then recovered.

It had been difficult, being denied something they wanted so much. And it had, at times, threatened to break them, to destroy their marriage. After the last false alarm, he'd found her sobbing in the bathroom, and she'd said – it sounded like an accusation, really – that she was a failure as a wife, and he'd be better off finding someone else.

She'd never forget the way he'd sat beside her, told her he didn't want anyone else, and asked if he was a failure as a husband, too. And they'd both poured out their soul. In the end, it had made them stronger.

"Lucius is going to kill us." Lily remarked as they left the hospital, hand in hand. She had make-up tracks down her face, highlighting where the tears had run. His eyes were red. Neither cared.

"Nah, he won't." Scorpius replied, equally as casual. "This is the future of his bloodline. He won't kill us, not while we've got the next Malfoy, anyway."

"Potter-Malfoy." Lily reminded him."He'll kill me for that, if nothing else. He's still not forgiven me for ruining the Malfoy name by tacking Potter on the end."

Whatever Lucius' feelings, Scorpius loved it, loved seeing letters addressed to Mrs Potter-Malfoy, loved seeing her signature, loved hearing it said.

He snorted. "That's true. But, bright side, our mothers and grandmothers are going to be thrilled. And _your_ granddad and dad'll be pleased."

"Your dad will be pretty happy to." She shrugged. "He's accepted me."

"Yeah. Everyone who matters will be happy for us." His voice was light, but she knew it still bothered him, his damaged relationship with Lucius. Not the time, she told herself, to talk about it.

"It's amazing." She said, instead. "A baby, Scorpius."

He stopped, turned to her and wrapped his arms around her. "I still can't accept it. It doesn't seem real."

"Worth the wait." Lily murmured. "I mean, it sucked, all those months of waiting and not being – even when we were sure. But it's worth all that, to feel like this."

"I know." He smiled at her. "When do you want to tell people?"

"I have to tell Lydie first. She made me promise."

"She made me promise, too." Scorpius replied, smirking. "As soon as you told her we were trying."

Lily flashed a smile. "Covering her bases. They're going to throw a party. The family. And _your_ lot will be invited, too. You think Lucius'll show up?"

Scorpius' expression hardened for a moment, then it passed. "I don't know. Mum and Dad and Grandma were pretty mad when he skipped the engagement party." And all these years later, he still hadn't forgiven that. And he hadn't, since then, once referred to him as "grandfather" sticking with Lucius, even to his face.

"Doesn't matter." Lily said, knowing where his thoughts were. "Doesn't matter if he never sets eyes on our kid. Not gonna miss out on anything without him in his or her life."

"That's true. No matter where Lucius stands on this, our baby will have everything they need."

She smiled at him, undiluted bliss on her face. "Our baby." She murmured.

For a long time, they stood in the street, arms around each other, muggles sending them curious looks as they walked around them.

Maybe they hadn't done the smart thing. Maybe they'd been too young. Maybe they should never have got together, should never have fallen in love.

But in the end, it was right, and nothing else mattered.


End file.
